Two Pagans bikers convicted in Wawa shooting, another acquitted
George Cwienk III and Joel Hernandez-Martinez were convicted for their roles in the Oct. 11 shooting outside the store in West Norriton. Justin Noll was found not guilty.
A Montgomery County judge issued a mixed verdict in the trial of three Pagans bikers accused of instigating a shooting at a Wawa in West Norriton last year, convicting two of the men of simple assault, conspiracy, and reckless endangerment, and acquitting the third of all charges.
After a three-day bench trial, Judge Risa Vetri Ferman convicted George Cwienk III, 51, and Joel Hernandez-Martinez, 36, Wednesday for their roles in the Oct. 11 shooting, but acquitted them of the more serious charge of aggravated assault.
Justin Ray Noll, 34, was found not guilty of all charges by the judge, who did not provide reasoning for her decision.
Prosecutors contended that the three men were responsible for the shooting, which left six people injured, including an employee of the store and a man filling his car’s tires with air.
Nine members of the outlaw motorcycle club pulled into the Wawa to confront members of a rival club, the Unknown Bikers, who were filling their motorcycles with gasoline. The Unknown Bikers did not have “permission” from the Pagans to drive through their territory, prosecutors said, so the Pagans set out to steal the rival club’s “cuts,” their denim vests bearing the club’s logo.
During the confrontation, two Unknown Bikers, David Zimmerman and Robert Statzell, pulled their guns and fired more than 12 shots in what Assistant District Attorney Bradley Deckel described as an act of self-defense that did not constitute a crime.
» READ MORE: Montgomery County judge dismisses charges against two Pagans bikers in Wawa shooting
Defense attorneys for the Pagans stressed that their clients were unarmed and said they were not responsible for the gunfire. They said prosecutors should have focused their investigation on the Unknown Bikers.
After the verdict, Noll’s attorney, Robert J. Kirwan II, called the judge’s decision to acquit him “necessary and just” and said the prosecution’s case was weak.
“Justin deserved to be found not guilty because he was not guilty,” he said.
Finn L. Skovdal, who represented Hernandez-Martinez, said he was pleased that his client was acquitted on the more serious charge he faced.
“Mr. Hernandez-Martinez has maintained his innocence in that, because he did not cause anyone serious bodily injury at that Wawa,” he said.
Cwienk’s attorney, Carlos Martir Jr., declined to comment.
Deckel, the prosecutor, said while he was disappointed by the verdict, he respected Ferman’s decision.
He said the prosecution was hindered by the fact that Zimmerman and Statzell would not cooperate with the law enforcement investigation and by the judge’s ruling to limit testimony from an expert on motorcycle culture.
