Texas woman faces 15 years in prison for aiding, abetting gang murders

31-year old  Lufkin, Texas, woman was sentenced yesterday by U.S. District Judge Marcia Crone to 15 years in federal prison for her role in a double homicide that took place in Nacogdoches, Texas, in August 2007.

April Flanagan pleaded guilty on November 29, 2010, to committing a violent crime in aid of racketeering activity, the object of which was a conspiracy to murder David Clyde Mitchamore Jr., and to acting as an accessory after the fact in the murder of Christy Rochelle Brown. 

According to the evidence and testimony presented in court, Flanagan had close ties to the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas, a race-based state-wide organization that operates inside and outside of state and federal prisons located throughout the state of Texas and the United States. 

The ABT enforces its rules and promotes discipline among its members, prospects and associates through murder, attempted murder, conspiracy to murder, assault, robbery and threats against those who violate the rules or pose a threat to the enterprise. 

Members, as well as ABT associates and prospects, are required to follow, without question, the orders of higher-ranking members.  These so-called “direct orders” typically task the ABT member or associate to “discipline” the offending individual with physical force.

According to court documents, David Mitchamore, aka “Super Dave,” an ABT member, and his girlfriend, Christie Rochelle Brown, were murdered as a result of a “direct order” by ABT members because of Mitchamore’s failure to repay an outstanding debt he allegedly owed to an ABT member.   The bodies of Mitchamore and Brown were discovered in Nacogdoches County on August 10, 2007.