Bobby Salazar enters federal court in Fresno on Monday, Sept. 29, 2025, for a hearing. He has hired a new legal team. (GV Wire/Jahz Tello)
- Fresno restaurant owner Bobby Salazar, accused of paying a biker to set fire to one of his eateries, has hired three attorneys to represent him in federal court.
- Salazar faces multiple arson counts, an illegal firearm charge, and potential decades in prison after a 2024 blaze destroyed his Blackstone Avenue restaurant.
- He remains free on a $1 million bond and is due back in court Oct. 9, though the hearing may be delayed as his new lawyers review the case.
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The Fresno restaurant owner accused of paying a biker club member to torch one of his eateries has hired several new lawyers, court records show.
A federal judge on Monday let Bobby Salazar, 63, remain free on a $1 million bond after meeting two conditions: securing the bond through property and hiring private attorneys. Since his arrest on Aug. 26, a federal public defender had represented Salazar.
Atlanta-based attorney Murdoch Walker II, his colleague Serguel Mawuko Akiti, and Irvine-based Michael Khouri will now defend Salazar.
Akiti declined to comment.
Salazar is accused of two counts of arson after his eponymous Blackstone Avenue restaurant in Fresno burned in 2024. He received a nearly $1 million insurance settlement.
Prosecutors also added a charge for possessing an illegal gun found at his home during a search warrant.
Salazar faces a minimum of five years and a maximum of 20 for the commercial arson charges, plus 10 years for a second count of arson in furtherance of a felony. The gun charge could bring five years in prison.
Walking into the courtroom, Salazar told GV Wire he is innocent.
He is scheduled for an Oct. 9 preliminary examination, but prosecutors indicated it may be delayed to allow Salazar’s new attorneys to get familiar with the case.
Attorney Backgrounds
Although Walker and Akiti are registered in several federal court jurisdictions, their application — known as pro hac vice — to practice in the Eastern District of California is pending. Khouri will serve as Salazar’s attorney of record for now.
According to Walker’s online biography, he earned his Doctor of Jurisprudence degree from the Charleston (South Carolina) School of Law. He started as an investigator for the New York County District Attorney’s Office, in South Carolina for state agencies, and for the federal Drug Enforcement Administration.
Walker recently defended a New Hampshire man accused of making online threats against a high school. Kyle Hendrickson received a 37-month sentence last year. Walker also represented John Johnson, a militia leader sentenced to one year for pointing a gun at police in the wake of the Breonna Taylor killing in Louisville, Kentucky.
On his website, Khouri lists himself as an “expert in professional licensing defense and the defense of Medicare/Medi-Cal audits.”
Recent cases of note for Khouri include defending a nurse who lost his license after his patient — and girlfriend — actress Stevie Ryan died; an Iowa chiropractor accused of Medicare fraud; and two Pennsylvania doctors accused of insurance fraud.
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