Judge’s decision against gang members will stand
Judge’s decision against gang members will stand
By Denise Nix
DAILY BREEZE
Wilmington gang members fighting an injunction suffered a setback Tuesday when a judge refused to set aside a default judgment against them, paving the way for the City Attorney’s Office to seek a permanent order restricting their behavior.
However, John Hachmeister, the Torrance attorney representing four Eastside Wilmas gang members, plans to appeal the ruling.
.My intent is to file an appeal because we are lifting people’s constitutional rights by virtue of default, and that’s not right,. Hachmeister said.
.Let’s let them litigate their rights..
The city of Los Angeles sued 40 members of Wilmington gangs in May 2001, and default judgments were made against them when they failed to respond to the city’s complaint.
Since then, four members of the Eastside Wilmas hired Hachmeister to overturn the judgment. When a default judgment is entered in court, the law assumes that the allegations in the complaint against the defendant are true.
Hachmeister said the gang injunction is unconstitutional because it prohibits otherwise legal behavior, such as gathering together on public streets, doing car repairs in public view and approaching pedestrians or bicyclists while in a car.
The injunction, a controversial anti-gang tool that many cities nationwide have implemented in recent years with some success, would also bar the gang members from illegal, gang-related activities, such as possessing drug paraphernalia, drinking in public and possessing weapons.
Long Beach Superior Court Judge Margaret Hay denied a motion by Hachmeister to set aside the default judgments on the basis that he failed to show that the defendants’ failures to answer the complaint was due to excusable or inexcusable attorney neglect.
Deputy City Attorney Jule Bishop said the next step is to seek the injunctions through hearings where Hay will hear evidence about the continuing gang nuisance caused by the defendants in Wilmington.
However, the case against four defendants who are filing an appeal will be put on hold until a higher court makes a ruling.
As an example that the Wilmington gangs are a continuing problem, Deputy City Attorney Elizabeth Greenwood noted that she saw graffiti about a month ago that said .ESW. . for Eastside Wilmas . on the wall inside the Long Beach courthouse.
Before the hearing Tuesday, .ESW. was crossed-out and .WSW. . for Westside Wilmas, its rival . was on top of it.
