S.F. attorney wants to create gang-free zone

[madmusic]

First in city would put 4 blocks of Hunters Point off-limits

Demian Bulwa and Carrie Sturrock, Chronicle Staff Writers

Monday, October 23, 2006

San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera is seeking the city's first civil injunction against a street gang, asserting that a court order is needed to protect Bayview-Hunters Point residents from criminals who commute there to sell drugs and kill rivals and witnesses.

Herrera wants Oakdale Mob members, who allegedly terrorize the public housing development known as Oakdale, to face jail time if they're outside after 10 p.m. or hang out together in public in a four-block "safety zone."

The injunction also would bar them from committing a variety of crimes such as trespassing, intimidating witnesses, painting graffiti and stashing guns in bushes and crawl spaces.

Similar injunctions have been used for more than two decades in cities across the country, including Los Angeles, San Jose and West Sacramento, where they have fueled passionate debate between law enforcement officials and civil rights advocates.

Herrera, who in December announced his intention to seek gang injunctions, said Sunday that they are an extension of his duty to stamp out public nuisances. He said he was responding to a raft of complaints from residents affected by recent surges of violence. There were 96 homicides last year in San Francisco, a 10-year high.

edit: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/10/23/GANGS.TMP

Wait a minute, it was a little over 10 years ago that the 3-strikes law passed, and it was supposed to fix all this. Oh well, the constitution still hasn't struck out, yet. Picture Lady Justice up at the plate with her blindfold on, and we see the future.

[davidinalameda]

1. I can't imagine people having a problem with this

people are dying because of these thugs are holding this area hostage

the city attorney has a duty to do everything in his power to protect the residents

[madmusic]

6. If they commit a crime, bust them.

If not, they are as free as anyone else. California also has gang association crimes on the books even if no convictions. Labeled in this or that gang, can't associate with the other members even if no convictions for anything. What gets someone the label? A cop, a gang expert, just on his/her say so.

The best known team goes by the name of Hannity and Coulter.

I can't imagine someone not having a problem with this. The solution is never to dump the constitution.

[madmusic]

7. Busted for talking

OPINION
O'SCANNLAIN, Circuit Judge:
We must decide whether words spoken by an admitted for-
mer member of a California gang to a group of Arizona gang
members could properly be punished by state law or, instead,
fell within the protective ambit of the First Amendment.
I
Jerry Dean McCoy was indicted in Arizona Superior Court
on one count of participating in a criminal street gang in vio-
lation of A.R.S. § 13-2308,1 a class 2 felony. The prosecution
alleged that McCoy, formerly a member of a California street
gang called "Toonerville," advised a street gang who called
themselves the "Bratz" or "Traviesos" on at least two separate
occasions on how to operate their gang: once at a barbeque at
Bratz member Eddie Rodriguez's house,2 and once at a party
held at the residence of another Bratz member. A jury con-
victed him. The trial judge sentenced McCoy to fifteen years
of imprisonment, citing as aggravating circumstances his
criminal history and that he was on parole at the time of the
offense.

http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:fPt1H0JOQw8J:www.ca9.uscourts.gov/ca9/newopinions.nsf/9C0D094EF0733F3988256B6B007C2FF7/%24file/0115700.pdf

[slaveplanet]

16. yep, typical

knee jerk public reaction...

got a gang proplem?
call a bigger gang...

Be careful what you wish for, you may just get it...

[davidinalameda]

18. how about the rights of the people living in the project

who are too scared to go outside because they see these thugs hanging out in front of their buildings?

don't they have rights as well?

[madmusic]

8. California appeals court strikes down ban on carrying pagers

By The Associated Press

10.28.1998

SAN DIEGO — Gang members can keep their pagers after a state appeals court decided the devices cannot be included in court orders prohibiting members from meeting or conducting some other normally legal activities in certain neighborhoods.

An absolute ban on a common, legal communications device goes too far, even though injunctions intended to rid neighborhoods of gang activity have been upheld by the state Supreme Court, the 4th District Court of Appeal said Monday in a case from Oceanside.

"Pagers and beepers are not only used for illicit reasons, but have countless lawful, legitimate and everyday uses," said Justice Judith Haller in the 3-0 ruling. She said they are used to contact workers in the field and to keep in touch with family members at home.

Even if gang members use the devices to sell drugs, forbidding possession of pagers for all purposes violates their freedom of speech, Haller said.

more: http://www.streetgangs.com/topics/1998/102898gnginj.html

Damn liberal judges.

[madmusic]

10. 10 P.M. curfuw for 28-year-old non gang member

Velazquez v. Henderson (2006)
Without any trial or due process, hundreds of West Sacramento residents of a predominantly Latino neighborhood were served a permanent "gang" injunction. In addition to challenging this injunction in a separate case, California v. Broderick Boys, the ACLU-NC is representing one such resident, a 28-year-old father, who was served by the injunction that imposes a lifetime 10 P.M. curfew, among other restrictions. The ACLU-NC is seeks a court order establishing that the Velazquez is not an active gang member, and thus the injunction must be vacated as to him and his name must be purged from the police gang files.

http://www.aclunc.org/cases/cases_to_watch/velazquez_v._henderson.shtml

[madmusic]

11. California v. Broderick Boys (2005)

California v. Broderick Boys (2005)
In late December 2004, the District Attorney of Yolo County filed papers seeking a permanent injunction against the Broderick Boys “gang,” thereby attempting to place hundreds of residents of a predominantly Latino neighborhood in West Sacramento on permanent probation without any trial or due process. In July 2005, ACLU-NC filed a motion, which the judge denied, to set aside the permanent injunction for lack of notice. The ACLU-NC appealed, and the final brief in that appeal was filed in June 2006.

http://www.aclunc.org/cases/cases_to_watch/california_v._broderick_boys.shtml

[madmusic]

13. From the other angle

This civil rights lawsuit arises from two alleged attacks on
Robinson that occurred while he was in the exercise yard. The
first attack occurred on May 13, 1996. Robinson claims that
as soon as he entered the yard, he was attacked by a Mexican-
American inmate, Martinez, who was already in the yard.
Robinson alleges that the correctional officers on duty in the
yard watched the fight for about five minutes without attempt-
ing to stop it. According to Robinson, after about five min-
utes, one guard ordered the inmates to get down on the
ground. Robinson alleges that he was unable to get down on
the ground because Martinez belongs to a gang that orders its
members to continue fighting until the guards fire shots, so
Robinson was forced to continue defending himself. A guard
eventually fired wooden blocks at Robinson and Martinez,
and another guard threw a grenade that released tear gas. Rob-
inson suffered some injuries from the attack, and he was pro-
vided with medical care. Robinson alleges that the guards lied
on the incident report by describing the fight as"mutual com-
bat," instead of noting that Martinez attacked Robinson.

The second attack occurred on May 25, 1996. Robinson
was the first inmate in the yard. He alleges that before
Miranda, a Mexican-American inmate, was released into the
yard with him, one guard joked, "Robinson, let the other guy
get all the way on the yard before you fight him, you can't
rush him at the gate." Another guard asked Robinson if tear
gas would bother his asthma, and six other guards laughed at
this comment. Robinson alleges that as soon as the guards
released Miranda into the yard, Miranda attacked him. The
guards fired wooden blocks, one of which struck Robinson in
the leg. The guards also threw a tear gas grenade into the
yard. Robinson alleges that the guards again falsified the inci-
dent report by describing the fight as "mutual combat" instead
of noting that Miranda attacked him.

http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:GHxTYBjVRAQJ:caselaw.findlaw.com/data2/circs/9th/0055922P.pdf

[EC]

2. Ex-husbands don't obey injunctions,

what makes him think gangs will? They probably have cause to arrest them already if they were willing, so how does an injunction do a damn thing?

[davidinalameda]

5. they might not have probable cause

violating this order will definately give them probable cause to arrest these thugs

and I'm pretty sure that he's counting on them not to obey the injunctions

[madmusic]

15. And in fact they are most dangerous when served one. n/t

[Jed Dilligan]

3. Gang members laugh at this foolishness,

while innocent teens will get swept up, slapped with a record, allowed no chance of defense, and, if they even survive the system, their chances of a future are nil.

Meanwhile, homeboy is kicking it in his cousin's garage down the street dealing crank and turning out 14 year olds.

What's not to love?

[Richard Steele]

4. "an injunction to prevent them from committing a variety of crimes."

Why doesn't this 'legal genius' just make crime ILLEGAL
and thereby solve the world's problems in an afternoon? :sarcasm:

What a nonsensical waste of time. I can't believe
some people are stupid enough to say shit like this with
a straight face.

[Cleita]

14. I'll bet they came out of one of those right wing think tanks.

You know the ones that Bill Maher said that they can't call themselves think tanks if everything they think of is stupid.

[slaveplanet]

17. Think tanks

ARE gangs

[Cleita]

9. Aren't gangs by definition entities that operate outside of the

law, like pirates? Why would this help? I mean it's like giving gangs legitimacy in the rest of the city, making them almost bourgeoisie.

[Selatius]

12. Short-term solutions to gangs are problematic at best.

What are you going to do? Lock them up and turn them into even worse people behind bars?

Society has totally abandoned these people that I don't know anything but long-term solutions.

The long-term solution, in my mind, is to raise the ghettos out of poverty. Maybe if so many of them haven't been forgotten and left to rot in the gutter, they wouldn't turn to a life of violence and crime to survive.

[EC]

20. Yep,

during the Clinton years alone, (at least in this area) gang membership went down. Why? Because they were in school(trade schools and colleges)and work...when there are opportunities, they will take those over a gang any day....


By the way, we didn't have gangs here until Reagan and Bush I with their coke trade...

[angstlessk]

19. Here's a REAL CHEAP way to fix the gang problems....

kidnap the gang leaders, since they are probably the smartest people in the gang. Promise them 1 million dollars IF they preach peace and prosperity to their memebers, WHILE attending college and encouraging ALL their members to go to college/get vocational education. Only base their pay on their success not like CEO's in other industries!

A few million here and there is about as cheap a way to fix the problem as anything I can think of?