Lawyers question former Hells Angels club president about stealing from Rockford chapter

The former head of a Rockford motorcycle club testified today that he had heard rumors after he was attacked that he was stealing from the Hells Angels.

But that’s not the reason Josh Johnson, 47, said fellow members gave him for wanting him out of the Rockford chapter before they attacked him. Johnson testified that he and a friend were accused during their weekly club meeting on June 27, 2013, of working with the police.

“They didn’t accuse you of stealing?” asked John Palmer, one of the defense attorneys for five members of the Rockford and Chicago branches of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club who are on trial this week for allegedly beating, stabbing and shocking the former president with a stun gun.

“No they did not,” said Johnson, who was questioned by defense lawyers for hours today.
Christopher Lawson and Richard L. Todd, both of Rockford; John R. Savalick of Pecatonica; Jose P. Vielma of Countryside; and Tomasz Lech of Crestwood are charged in the beating at the Hells Angels’ clubhouse, then located at 1109 Rock St., Rockford. Johnson’s wallet and keys were stolen, and he testified this week that three TVs, two laptops and his daughter’s iPod were stolen from his home while he was in the hospital.

Hells Angels on trial over beating, stabbing of former Rockford club president

A former Rockford man testified today that he was beaten, stabbed and shocked with a Taser because fellow members of the Hells Angels accused him of working with the police. Josh Johnson at the time was president of the Rockford charter of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club. Members told Johnson “you’re out bad.” Then he was “beat with a hammer. He’s beat with fists.  He’s kicked.

You’ll hear he’s stabbed four times in the back. And he’s tased,” Winnebago County Assistant State’s Attorney Joe Lesner told jurors during opening statements in the trial of five members of the Hells Angels. Johnson also had his wallet and keys stolen and his then 11-year-old daughter was taken without his permission, Lesner said.

The former club president testified today he was beaten repeatedly with an axe handle and a hammer or bat, stabbed in the back and left side and tased multiple times during a club meeting — which Hells Angels refer to as “church” — on June 27, 2013, at the Hells Angels’ clubhouse, then located at 1109 Rock St., Rockford.

But defense attorneys for the five men countered that Johnson — a mixed martial arts fighter and jiu jitsu practitioner — had been kicked out of the club and some of their clients were defending themselves from the man who outweighed them.“The evidence is going to show that Josh Johnson was no longer suitable to be a member of the Hells Angels,” one defense attorney, Chris Humphrey, said. “The evidence is going to show our clients did what they had to do to defend themselves.”


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