Biker gang member who killed Tarrant County man gets 50 years in prison for murder
A 37-year-old man has been sentenced to 50 years in prison on six charges for the fatal stabbing of a 29-year-old in 2020.
David McCurdy, a member of the Pagan’s biker gang, was found guilty by a Tarrant County jury of stabbing Christopher Johnson in Sansom Park in 2020, according to a news release from the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Office.
McCurdy was sentenced to a total of 180 years in prison, but because the judge ordered the sentences to be carried out concurrently he will only be behind bars for the length of the longest sentence handed down:
- 50 years for murder
- 50 years for engaging in organized criminal activity
- 40 years for two additional charges of engaging in organized criminal activity (20 years each)
- 40 years for two charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon (20 years each)
County District Court 1 Judge Elizabeth Beach issued the sentences and made the decision that they will run concurrently. She noted the offenses were gang related.
According to the DA’s office, Johnson and two other victims were forced out of the Eight Ball Billiards and Bar, at 5854 Jacksboro Highway in Sansom Park, on Oct. 24, 2020. As they were trying to flee in the parking lot, they were attacked by McCurdy, who stabbed Johnson in the back.
Johnson later died at the hospital.
McCurdy, a documented member of the Pagan’s criminal motorcycle gang, believed Johnson was affiliated with the rival gang Hell’s Angels, according to the DA’s office. Johnson was not a member of the Hell’s Angels.
McCurdy was arrested while attending a Pagan’s rally in Hunt County in February 2021.
Two other people have been indicted and are awaiting trial for the roles they played in Johnson’s murder, and multiple suspects remain unidentified, according to the DA’s office.
Assistant District Attorney Page Simpson said in the news release that McCurdy lacked respect for human life.
“Someone with those values doesn’t deserve to be walking on the streets,” she said.
Christopher Johnson’s younger sister, Natalie Johnson, told McCurdy after sentencing that she will never forgive him for killing her brother.
“Living life after this isn’t really living,” she told McCurdy in a victim impact statement after the trial. “You’ve taken away the light of our life. You have completely broken a family in pieces.”
“I want you to know I hate you. I absolutely hate you,” she said. “I hope my brother’s death haunts you for the rest of your life. ... You are a coward and a soulless piece of garbage.”
This story was originally published October 26, 2022 at 4:51 PM.