Update: Enhancement was not dismissed. Pike's Pub Six face new felony charge and the enhancement

ALLEN COUNTY, Ind. ---CORRECTION: THE PROBABLE CAUSE was contacted by the Allen County Prosecutor's office for a clarification and correction on this story. We stand corrected.

Here it is: The next hearing is Sept. 26 in front of Allen Superior Court Judge Fran Gull. All six defendants are scheduled to be in attendance. They face three charges - Level 5 battery resulting in serious bodily injury, misdemeanor criminal reckless AND Felony 6 criminal organization activity.

An enhancement - criminal gang activity - still stands.

Any and all of these charges COULD BE DOUBLED if the defendants are found guilty. This article will reflect those changes.

The Probable Cause apologizes for the mistake.

The hard bargaining has already begun.

The Allen County Prosecutor at the behest of Allen County Chief Deputy Prosecutor Tom Chaille added a third charge - a Level 6 felony for criminal organization activity. It is the lowest felony in the state of Indiana and carries a sentence of between six months and 2.5 years. 

From left: Douglas Zuber, Jerrad Impton, Vard Warnock, Christopher Yoho, Justin Wert and Ryan Minick. The six defendants have been charged in the May 30 beating of a black man at Pike's Pub in Waynedale.

Unchanged are the initial charges of Level 5 battery resulting in serious bodily injury and misdemeanor criminal recklessness. A Level 5 felony carries between a one and six-year sentence.

One of the six, Justin Wert, has an additional charge of strangulation.

Four of the six men charged in the May 30 attack of a black man at Pike’s Pub in Waynedale appeared in court Aug. 11 with their attorneys.

There was to be a status hearing on Aug. 18 (Monday) that would have included Wert, only the hearing in Magistrate Samuel Keirns courtroom was cancelled.

Five of the six charged who - Douglas Zuber, Christopher Yoho aka Chris Woho, Ryan Minick, Jerrad Impton and Wert - are scheduled to appear Sept. 26 in front of Allen Superior Court Judge Fran Gull. We now have word that all six are to appear on that date.

Vard Warnock, 58, the sixth defendant charged a week later after a misidentification, is to join the other defendants on Sept. 26.

Bri Andrews

Bri Andrews, an activist who was instrumental in bringing attention to the bar attack, issued a statement after learning about the changes in charges. Once The Probable Cause informed Andrews of the mistake made on our part, she called it "amazing news."

For that reason, we will take down her former statement and await yet another one.

It’s up to Gull to approve a motion by the Allen County Prosecutor's office for a joinder trial. She would oversee all of the defendants together in a trial.

The Sept. 26 date gives the defendants and their attorneys a month to file motions, continuances and all manner of unforeseen legal maneuvers. All six men have retained attorneys. Three of the men have attorneys from Indianapolis whose billings tend to double the hourly rate charged locally.

The six men appeared on a video wearing biker gear that identifies them as members of the Outlaws Motorcycle Club, an organization the Department of Justice accuses of being a drug smuggling ring. The video went viral and friends and associates started identifying the players, all of whom appear much smaller than the victim.

Zuber, 66, the “money behind the bar” according to court documents, claimed that Simmons had been cut off “due to his intoxication level,” and that “James insisted he get him another drink.” Zuber also claimed that Simmons “started walking towards the door instead of paying his tab,” apparently justifying the ensuing attack by the five other men who whaled on him, as seen in the video (Video posted here by The Hungry Black Man).

The victim, James Simmons III, has said he was trying to pay his bill when the confusion and then, attack, started.

After the video went viral on social media, there was an outcry and a demand for justice. The attackers can be heard on the video using the "N" word. The probable cause affidavit identifies Zuber as the one who yells the racial epithet and encourages the other men to beat up Simmons.

Simmons was taken to the hospital for “a broken blood vessel in his eye, a significant cut on his tongue, several contusions and a head injury,” court documents said.

After he was released, he returned to the hospital the next day for “additional medical attention for the cut on his tongue,” court documents said.

Wert, 35, was picked out of the pile of attackers in a viral video as the one who had Simmons down on the ground in a headlock. Later Simmons told detectives that “his breathing was impaired as a result of the pressure applied to his neck by Wert,” according to the probable cause affidavit written by Detective Corporal Keith Wallin.

Yoho, 42, is identified as the one who ripped Simmons' yellow safety vest from his body and threw a chair at him.

Minick, 44, who gave his street address as the same location as Choices Treatment Center on Spy Run, is seen on the video "aggressively pointing" at Simmons and then "jumping into the middle of the battery and throwing punches," court documents said. Minick, who appears to be half Simmons' size, then "places his hands on or near James' neck."

Impton, 52, is accused of throwing a punch to the back of Simmons' head, court documents said. Impton was identified by a Fort Wayne police officer because of a "prior involvement."

The Probable Cause will keep you updated as new court developments occur.