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Broderick Boys hearing to resume in courtBy Hudson Sangree -
Last Updated 7:48 am PDT Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Yolo County prosecutors will be back in court Tuesday, seeking an injunction against the Broderick Boys street gang of West Sacramento. Law enforcement officials insist that the gang is the source of street crime ranging from violence to petty theft in the Bryte and Broderick neighborhoods. A team of defense lawyers, meanwhile, is trying to convince a judge that an injunction would be an unnecessary curb on the civil liberties of area residents.
Judge Kathleen White is presiding over the hearing at the Woodland courthouse, which continues Tuesday after a two-week break. When the hearing concludes, White will decide whether to issue a temporary injunction against the gang. A trial on a permanent order would follow. The proposed injunction would prohibit gang members from gathering in public, intimidating witnesses, and possessing weapons, graffiti tools, drugs or alcohol. It also would impose a 10 p.m.-to-dawn curfew. Defense lawyers, led by prominent Sacramento civil rights lawyer Mark Merin, have been calling witnesses to the stand to rebut police allegations of an epidemic of gang-related crime. Among them is Rick Gore, a senior investigator with the Yolo County District Attorney's Office, who recently lashed out in writing at his boss, District Attorney Jeff Reisig, for allegedly using the gang injunction for political gain and forcing him to sign an affidavit in support of the injunction. Reisig has denied what he called Gore's "false and reckless allegations." Defense lawyers called Gore to the stand at a hearing in late March, but his testimony was halting and frequently interrupted by objections. He said that he didn't want to sign the affidavit because he was no longer working in the gang unit and had no firsthand knowledge of gang activity in West Sacramento. Gore said he supported a 2005 anti-gang injunction that was thrown out last year by a state appeal court. In their decision, the justices said that notice of the proposed injunction had been served on only one low-level gang member and there had been no real opportunity for the Broderick Boys to fight it in court. At the request of West Sacramento officials, prosecutors are seeking a second injunction. This time, gang members are represented by a team of a dozen defense lawyers, who are challenging the proposed order.
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