Motorcycle gang member Nathaniel David McCurdy was sentenced to 50 years behind bars, according to an announcement from the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Office issued on Wednesday.
The sentencing followed a jury’s decision to find McCurdy, 37, guilty of the fatal stabbing of Christopher Johnson, 29, outside a bar in Fort Worth in 2020.
“Someone with those values doesn’t deserve to be walking on the streets,” said Page Simpson, Tarrant County assistant criminal district attorney.
McCurdy was convicted on six counts, including murder, engaging in organized criminal activity, two charges of engaging in organized criminal activity, and two charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
The jury sentenced McCurdy to 50 years for each of the murder and organized criminal activity convictions, plus 20 years for each of the two charges of engaging in organized criminal activity and the two charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. The sentences will be served concurrently.
“I want you to know I hate you. I absolutely hate you,” said Natalie Johnson, the younger sister of the victim, after the sentencing. “I hope my brother’s death haunts you for the rest of your life. … You are a coward and a soulless piece of garbage.
“Living life after this isn’t really living,” she tearfully said. “You’ve taken away the light of our life.
You have completely broken a family in pieces.”
According to the criminal district attorney’s press release, prosecutors allege that McCurdy was a member of the Pagan’s MC, an outlaw motorcycle gang.
The gang originated in the Northeast Atlantic states, with a large membership in Pennsylvania. However, it is relatively unknown in Texas. The Pagans are known as one of the founders of the “One-Percenters,” a term coined in 1947 in response to the American Motorcycle Association stating that 99% of motorcycle riders were law-abiding citizens.
The Pagan’s MC historically feuds with members of the Hells Angels MC, and, according to prosecutors in the case against McCurdy, that rivalry played a role in the murder of Johnson in 2020.
According to the criminal district attorney’s press release, Simpson told the jury that McCurdy falsely believed that Johnson was a member of the Hells Angels MC.
A group of Pagan’s MC members, including McCurdy, reportedly forced Johnson and two other individuals outside the Eight Ball Billiards and Bar in Sansom Park on the night of October 24, 2020. As Johnson attempted to flee, McCurdy allegedly stabbed him in the back.
Johnson died at an area hospital that night. He was apparently not a member of a motorcycle gang and had no ties to the Hells Angels or any other organized criminal group.
During a joint investigation involving the Texas Department of Public Safety, Hunt County Sheriff’s Department, and other law enforcement agencies in February 2021, McCurdy was among several Pagans arrested at a rally in Hunt County and charged for their alleged role in the murder.
In addition to McCurdy, Anthony Jordan Patterson, 25, and Christopher Chase Bailey, 27, were arrested and charged with the homicide.
Multiple suspects in the incident have yet to be identified, according to the Criminal District Attorney’s press release.
Texas laws do not differentiate between the person who committed the murder and the accomplices to the crime, meaning that Patterson and Bailey are also likely to spend a significant amount of time in jail. Both men are currently awaiting trial in the matter. As members of a recognized criminal motorcycle club, the charges will carry an enhanced sentence for gang activity.
