CAN CHOPPERS INC SURVIVE WITHOUT BILLY LANE?

Loss Loss Situation

I first met Billy Lane over 5 years ago when I travelled to the East Coast of Florida to a sleepy little town with a strip of white sand called Melbourne.

His shop, Choppers Inc was on the boil. His hardtail chops with their junkyard ornaments and hand made tanks had got him the attention of the guys and his tattooed bod and trademark dreads had gotten him a lot of attention from the girls.

Bra's and bikes at the old shop

Several stints on Biker Build-Off saw his name and reputation as a hard riding hard partying ‘real biker’ jump off the chart and people were more than willing to throw 50+ grand at him just to build them a chop. The day I turned up, the place was full of people. The bikers were buying everything from custom made oil bungs to his signature Sha Sha boots, whilst their old ladies just stood around watching him bend sissy bars by hand and waiting patiently for him to autograph their boobs. His star was on the ascendance and everyone wanted to hitch a ride.

Life was good. The guy was at the top of his game and undoubtedly enjoying the ride but when we escaped out the back and sat on the bed of his hotrod truck to talk, one of my questions was about the fickle nature of stardom.

5 minutes peace out the back

‘Fame is a weird thing,’ he told me at the time, ‘yes, there are so many things I want to see and do, but for the moment I’m surfing this wave, I’m popular right here and now and you just never know when its going to end.’

Prophetic glance of the future, or was the guy just showing his human, paranoid side? Whatever the reason,  those words have come back to haunt him. On September 4^th 2006, Billy Lane was involved in a car accident on the A1A highway not far from his shop, when his Dodge pick-up collided head on with a Yamaha scooter. Lane and his passenger, Erin Derrick veered off the road, flipped upside down and hit a telegraph pole. The rider, Gerald Morelock, was killed on impact.

Lane's Dodge

Since then Lane’s world has quite obviously changed dramatically. His corporate sponsors have run for the hills, blogs across the US get swamped whenever his name is mentioned and the local community of Melbourne where he has worked and lived for the past ten years regularly make their anti-Lane vehemence known on the local newspapers website.

In the intervening time, countless words have been written about him and what he’s alleged to have said and done. For the most part, the motorcycle press has tried to report just the facts and stay away from the ensuing moral storm, but some of the sleazier US newspapers have led a trial by media with such headlines as ‘Chopper King Kills Fellow Biker.’

Which is why, 5 years since my last visit, I travelled back to Choppers Inc in Melbourne to make up my own mind.

Gone is the glass-fronted shop with the fancy trucks and bikes parked outside and the party atmosphere inside. Choppers Inc is now in an unmarked garage buried in the middle of an industrial estate on the other side of town, you don’t find it unless you’ve been invited. There are no staff or hangers-on, Billy Lanes mother, Marianne, now keeps the paperwork in order and an old friend Phil Z is the only other worker.

Phil Z

Gone also are Lane’s trademark dreads and booze habit, whether this is some psychological desire to distance himself from the man he was is not clear, but there is no doubt that the incidents of 2004 have left an indelible mark.

‘I don’t know what the f**k happened that day,’ says Phil Z, ‘we’d been riding around in the sun and when we left the bar, we all split up to head home, but Billy must have swung by the shop and picked up the truck, I don’t know why he did, he’s probably asked himself that same question a thousand times since.

‘But regardless of that, he’s not the fucking monster the press are making him out to be,’ he adds, ‘You know he has to ride past the very spot twice a day and it tears him up.’

On the surface, trial by media may seem justified as according to the press, Lane was drunk at the wheel and drove straight into Gerald Morelock, killing him instantly. But as with everything in life, there is more to the story.

According to the police, Lane was in a no overtaking zone and twice the legal alcohol limit when the accident occurred. But according to Lane, he started overtaking a line of slow moving traffic before the unbroken lines started. His attorney Greg Eisenmenger also maintains that the alcohol sample given after the accident may have been contaminated by the police and is therefore unreliable.

An autopsy on the deceased also recorded alcohol levels above the legal limit and that he apparently,  had turned onto the A1A highway from a side road mere moments before the collision. But whatever happened, the basics facts remain the same. One mans life has ended and another’s will never be the same again.

In 2007, the Morelock family filed a wrongful death suit against Lane and Daimler/ Chrysler, for supplying Lane with a promotional vehicle knowing that his licence had been suspended. They won an undisclosed amount in an out-of-court settlement. Passenger Erin Derrick’s civil suit against Lane (which she didn’t file until over a year after the accident) for allegedly suffering permanent injuries that left her unable to work, is still to be settled.

By January 2009 the case still hadn’t gone to trial, but with a new date set for February, I wondered how Billy Lane had been coping with the undoubted stress.

Still in between court appearances, it was left to Phil Z to act as official spokesperson.

‘As you can see, he has said goodbye to the circus,’ says Phil looking around the quiet workshop. ‘Oh he’s still a chopper freak to the core alright, but he’s gone back to his roots and thrown himself into building real world bobbers.’

Bike, plane, farm, the versatile Henderson

Apparently, he’s also become engrossed in board trackers, with several ongoing projects in the shop and a complete bike built for Sucker Punch Sally’s. ‘Rumour is,’ says Phil ‘there’s going to be a board track revival, its going to be the next big thing and don’t be surprised to see some kind of race series that features them, some time soon.’

‘The thing is,’ he continues, ‘everyone and their dog started doing choppers, so we’ve gone old school, but I mean real old school, I’m talking Stone Age man.’

Getting away from the huge cubic inch monster motors, Billy and Phil have tracked down some amazing and obscure old engines and frames to get the builds as original as possible.

A 1928 Harley JD sat on the bench housed in a newly built frame and finished with cycle parts from the same era. Next to it was a 1912 Waverly, fitted with a front end from a 1917 Cleveland. Whilst on the floor awaiting attention was a rarity indeed, a Thor single cylinder engine which was only made between 1903-1916 . 

‘This 1921 Henderson engine,’ says Phil pointing towards yet another piece of American motorcycle history, ‘started out life in a bike frame, then it powered a plane, you can tell by the deepened oil sump,’ he says. ‘When we found it, it was powering machinery on a farm.’

Ultra rare- Excelsior and Thor engines

But with lots of projects half finished and only Billy wielding the spanners, I had to ask the obvious question. ‘We just don’t know what’s going to happen to the workshop after Feb (his next court date) and right now, I don’t think Billy does either.

‘We don’t do the clothing lines now and we fell out with the people that were making the boots, but we’ve got a new line of custom parts that are selling well. But as you can see, Billy’s the only mechanic so we may have to close the doors, I just don’t know. That’s why he’s heading to California, he’s just going riding for 2 weeks to clear his head and try and get things into perspective.’

The trip obviously did the trick as Billy came back with a plan and a more philosophical attitude towards the whole thing. And as the court date loomed it looked like the State of Florida versus William Lane, which had been delayed and set back for the last two years, finally looked like it was going ahead.

The initial accident and subsequent hearings had caused a lot of interest in the state and local press, with the local Melbourne paper Florida Today, covering the case avidly. Although the articles appeared to be comparatively objective, it was the comments on the newspapers blog site that caused concern.

It accused the state of ‘dealing with him lightly’ due to his ‘celebrity status’, it called for him to ‘burn in hell.’ It said he was known locally for his ‘bar hopping’ and that he was ‘getting away with murder.’ One blogger even went as far as suggesting that Lane had his blood sample tampered with whist it was at the lab. 

It should be noted however , that Melbourne is predominantly a quiet, conservative, church-going town and that the numerous tactical stalls by Billy Lane’s legal team had won him no fans locally. But as the new court date fast approached it finally looked like he was going to get his day in court.

It was now late February, Billy was back from California and working flat out on his Daytona show bike. The break seems to have cleared his head and although more than happy to talk about the bike, with the court case so close, he lets Phil once more, be his official mouthpiece while he carries on working.

Harley JD engine with BSA gearbox

 Its pretty much decided and his legal team are hoping they’ll let him enter a plea of no contest,’ says Phil, ‘that way the judge gives a sentence based on the case rather than being held to a set penalty.’ ‘So will that mean he’ll get away with a smaller sentence?’ I ask ‘cant say,’ replies Phil, ‘he could still be looking at 10 years in the state pen.’

‘Ok, his lawyers have been kicking for touch,’ he admits, and that may have been the best deal for him, but he’s had enough now, he wants it over with so that everyone concerned can have closure and he can get on with his life regardless of the outcome.’

‘He’s in that frame of mind now,’ continues Phil, ‘he just needs it sorting. Its taken its toll on him psychologically as well as physically and he’s tired of them messing with it.

So has he made any decisions about the business? I ask. ‘Choppers Inc will continue,’ says Phil, ‘run by me regardless of what happens, we’ll do 4 shows a year carrying on the Choppers Inc name. Talking of which,’ he adds, ‘did I tell ya, we were asked recently to display our bikes at a big show here in Florida but when a certain whisky company heard about it, they threatened to cancel their sponsorship of the event so we had no choice but to pull out. Nice huh, they weren’t saying that a few years ago.’

With the court date days away a further twist appears, this time from the State Prosecutor Tom Brown. In light of Lanes attorney questioning the validity of the blood sample, Brown now adds a further charge of vehicular homicide to the original charge. This now means that if the alcohol level evidence is weak, they only have to prove that he was driving recklessly, to prove their case.

It’s a tactic aimed squarely at making Lane’s legal team go for a plea bargain rather than a long drawn out courtroom drama, which they do. Greg Eisenmenger announces that a plea agreement has been reached and that Lane will either plead guilty, or no contest at his next hearing.

This was seen by the local bloggers as the ultimate cop out and yet another attempt by Billy Lane of trying to wriggle out of it. Admittedly, this move has the potential of reducing what would have probably been a compulsory 15 years behind jail to a shorter period, but the prosecution had stated previously that they wouldn’t bargain for anything less than a ten year stretch.

It should also be pointed out however that this move was only made possible after much behind the scene wrangling between both sides but more importantly, could not have gone ahead without consultation and agreement by the Morelock family.

Byron Morelock, the victim’s brother, said at the time that he was not opposed to a plea deal. ‘Revenge is nothing. I’ve got to take myself out of the picture,’ he said. ‘I just know my brother would want something positive out of this thing. Gerry was a sweet guy and he never wanted to hurt anybody, even when someone would hurt him,  he’d say ‘Don’t worry about it.’ The Morelock family have since met with Billy Lane in a behind the scenes meeting in an attempt to salvage something positive from the tragedy.

It is now April the 7^th 2009, over two and a half years since the accident and Billy Lane is in court once more but this time it’s the end game, this is when his legal people will announce to Judge Robert Burger his plea.

But once again the proceedings grind to a halt. Apparently, the exact wording in documents held by defence and prosecutor differs slightly. Greg Eisenmenger gives a statement afterwards, ‘the state and I both walked in with written versions of the plea and there was a different interpretation of the wording, so both of us are kind of hung up right now on.

‘How the plea is written or structured can have impact on legal issues down the road, so we want to make sure that’s right.”

Those technicalities weren’t apparently ironed out overnight and when everyone appeared in court the next day, Judge Burger ordered them to take another week for both sides to sort themselves out.  The date for sentencing was fixed for May 29^th but through various delays on both sides dragged on still further until August.

Finally on the morning of August 14^th 2009, almost 3 years after the accident, Billy Lane stood before Judge Robert Burger ready to accept his fate and thankfully, did the only thing left he could do that might salvage some dignity. He put his hands up totally. ‘I ride by the spot where I killed him every day  and I think about what happened and I look up to the sky, pray to God for his soul and for his family,’ he told the court ‘I made the single most irresponsible decision in my life and it cost another man his life.’

Lane led away after sentencing

Lane’s lawyer went through the motions of asking that he not be given a custodial sentence stating that with the Morelock families consent they would rather he turned his attention to preaching the dangers of dui (driving under the influence) to others.

But after a 20 minute recess, Judge Burger returned to hand out the 6 year sentence with a further 3 years probation, a lifetime ban from driving and ordered him to be randomly tested for drug and alcohol on his release. Lane was then handcuffed and taken to the Avon County work camp to serve his time.

So why write this now? Well, after 3 long years the final chapter of this sorry story has just been written. As Florida law dictates, the accused is given leave to appeal against their sentence and at the end of October, Lane’s Lawyer did just that. The hearing lasted just long enough to observe the formalities before the judge turned it down.

Personal Comment

There is no doubt that this case has caused a tremendous amount of controversy with opinions covering both ends of the spectrum. I can’t speak for Joe Public, who tend to let themselves be swept along by manipulative headlines and believe that anyone on two wheels is a menace, but in a so called fair society even they must have their say. But it is in the pages of bike magazines and sites such as this where the man should be judged by his peers.

Billy Lane is undoubtedly a victim of his own celebrity, we’ve all seen pictures of him burning out the back wheel of his chop whilst necking a bottle of JD. It was who he was, it was what people liked about him, its why people bought his gear and women wanted their breasts autographed by him. But he f****d up in the worst way imaginable, that I’m afraid is part of the human condition and for that he must pay.

some pictures are worth a 1000 words

Those that supported him when his star was rising and are now nowhere to be seen are hypocrites, obviously fame junkies just out for themselves. Those that have mindlessly defended his actions without taking into account the grief stricken family Gerry Morelock left behind, are equally as blind and pathetic.

Gerrald Morelock

There are no winners in this, not Gerald Morelock’s family or for that matter Lanes, but hopefully there will also be some reading this who like me, will stop and consider the number of times they’ve got behind the wheel or handlebars after a few beers and will now think twice about it. Have the balls to at least say, ‘there but for the grace of God go I,’ and have the sense to do something about it.

Blogs posted after Lanes various court appearances

 

 

 

‘The judges in Brevard County are true perverts of justice we support you Mr. Lane’        

 

 

‘some drunken scumbag biker kills an innocent man outright and you say, we support you Mr. lane? would you support him if hed killed your father or brother. it’s a fact that white trash has no brain or morals. if this guy is not guilty no one is. he should spend at least 20 years in jail. Spay and neuter your white trash, please.’

 

‘The Billy Lane “case” makes our judicial system seem like a bunch of gypsies sitting around the campfire, each trying to gain advantage over the others. In more blunt terms, this is a perversion of true justice.’