DETROIT, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- A member of the Highwaymen Motorcycle Club has been held too long without trial and must be granted bail, a U.S. federal appeals court in Detroit ruled.
Aref "Steve" Nagi, 46, is the lead defendant in a government racketeering case against the Highwaymen and has been in jail awaiting trial since October 2006.
The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Monday ordered federal Judge Nancy Edmunds to "fix a reasonable bail and/or conditions" for Nagi's release.
"The charges against Nagi are serious, but they do not include the even more serious conspiracy to commit murder charges that some of Nagi's co-defendants face, some of whom remain free on bond," the court said in its ruling.
Nagi was charged in a drug conspiracy indictment in 2006. More than 70 other defendants in the Highwaymen case were charged with murder conspiracy, assault and interstate theft, the Detroit News reported Tuesday.
