IN BRIEF / LOS ANGELES

Judge Lifts Injunction Against Gang Members

From Times staff reports

February 21 2002

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge Wednesday lifted an injunction against 18th Street gang members in the Pico-Union area at the request of city and county prosecutors who said the Rampart police corruption scandal had cast doubt on its validity.

"With all that's happened in the last few years and the stigma that's surrounding that whole time frame, it just seemed better that we go ahead and dismiss," said Deputy City Atty. Kelly Huynh. The 1997 injunction, which prohibited the gang members from associating in public, was temporarily suspended in September 1999, shortly after the Rampart scandal broke. The order by Judge Rodney Nelson formally dissolves it.