Gang Injunctions

Gang injunction filings: defense attorneys seek mediation

Oakland City Attorney

Oakland's latest gang injunction would cover part of the Fruitvale district.

The defense attorneys in the Norteño gang injunction case have asked Judge Robert Freedman to direct both parties to mediation hearings that would limit the scope of the proposed court order.

Judge Freedman has yet to issue a ruling. Closing arguments in the Fruitvale injunction were held on May 6. Meanwhile, City Attorney John Russo’s last day in office will be June 10. A replacement has yet to be named by the Oakland City Council, and Russo’s successor will most likely be chosen during a special election later this year.

On May 17th, attorneys for the city noted that the defense’s May 13th deadline for filing revisions to the proposed injunction had passed with no submissions by the defense, and asked the court to approve the court order against 40 alleged gang members.

The defense’s brief, filed on May 27th, points to recent developments as grounds for moving the case towards mediation to possibly remove some defendants from the injunction, limit the size of the injunction area and modify some of the restrictions on the movements and associations of the named defendants. On May 18, the Oakland City council voted to continue with the North Oakland and Fruitvale injunctions, with some modifications and barred the City Attorney from proceeding with a third injunction until the strategy is independently evaluated. Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Courts, Fruitvale, Gang Injunctions, Judge Robert Freedman, Nortenos, Oakland, Oakland City Attorney

May 20, 2011 | 3:33 PM | By Ali Winston

Joseph Coombs, Fruitvale injunction defendant, arrested in weapons sting

Norteño gang graffiti. Photo by http://www.flickr.com/photos/metalcowboy/2761077635/#/

A sting operation in East Oakland last night netted three arrested, including one of the defendants in the Fruitvale gang injunction. Joseph Coombs, 37, is listed as one of 40 alleged Nortenos on court papers filed by the City Attorney’s office in a civil nuisance suit current under review by an Alameda County judge.

Thursday’s incident started around 2 p.m. on the corner of Cuthbert and Nicol avenues in the upper Fruitvale District. Acting on a tip from a confidential source, Oakland Police set up a sting operation to purchase two automatic weapons, a Mac-10 and an AK-47.

Coombs realized he had been set up when 35 SWAT officers from OPD and other unnamed agencies converged on the location. Coombs fled into an apartment at 3121 Cuthbert avenue and barricaded himself inside with two other people, an unidentified man and woman. After a three-hour standoff, he was arrested around 5:30 PM and is currently being held without bail in Santa Rita Jail on a parole violation and charges of felony possession of a firearm and felony possession of an assault weapon.

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FILED UNDER: Police, East Oakland, Gang Injunctions, Joseph Coombs, Oakland, Oakland Police Department

May 11, 2011 | 11:51 AM | By Ali Winston

Home invasion robbery charges dropped against injunction defendant

Norteño gang graffiti. Photo by http://www.flickr.com/photos/metalcowboy/2761077635/#/

During closing arguments last Friday over Oakland’s proposed gang injunction against 40 alleged Norteno gang members in the Fruitvale area, attorneys for the city reminded Alameda County Superior Judge Robert Freedman that 20 of the 40 defendants have been arrested since the civil suit was filed last October. For their part, the defendants claim they are under increased surveillance because they are on the injunction list: undercover officers kept tabs on David Hernandez, Alex Curiel and Salvador Avaloz during Oakland’s recent Cinco De Mayo celebration. Meyers Nave Attorney Tricia Hynes rattled off a string of offenses that led to some of these arrests, including attempted murder and home invasion robbery.

One of those charges listed was against defendant Anthony Garcia 29, after he and a neighbor were arrested on March 30 in connection with a home invasion robbery. Police reports say Garcia and his friend forced their way into an apartment on International Boulevard near 32nd Avenue, told the residents they were in a gang, and demanded money. The police report also indicates Garcia simulated a pistol with his thumb and index finger. The apartment’s occupants called police and forcibly restrained Garcia, who was arrested by police shortly thereafter.

Yesterday, prosecutors dropped Garcia’s charges after his attorneys argued that he had gone to the apartment to retrieve a bike his neighbor believed belonged to him.

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FILED UNDER: Courts, Fruitvale, Gang Injunctions, Nortenos, Oakland, Oakland City Attorney

May 7, 2011 | 4:09 PM | By Ali Winston

Judge hears closing arguments in Fruitvale injunction, ruling expected soon

Ali Winston

Defense Attorneys Yolanda Huang and Michael Siegel leave the Rene C. Davidson Courthouse on Friday, May 6th.

At some point in the next month, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Robert Freedman will decide whether or not to approve Oakland’s second gang injunction, brought by City Attorney John Russo against 40 alleged Norteños in the Fruitvale neighborhood.

Although the Oakland City Council will decide on May 17th whether or not to continue with the controversial anti-gang strategy, Judge Freedman indicated he will allow the case regardless of the council’s decision. A replacement for outgoing City Attorney John Russo, who will leave office on June 10, has yet to be named.

Attorneys for the city and defense presented their closing arguments to Judge Freedman yesterday afternoon in front of a full courtroom in Department 1 of the Rene C. Davidson Courthouse on Lake Merritt. Most of those present were youth opposed to the injunction who had taken part in a march from Fruitvale to the courthouse yesterday.

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FILED UNDER: Courts, Fruitvale, Gang Injunctions, Nortenos, Oakland, Oakland City Attorney, Oakland Police Department

May 5, 2011 | 8:17 PM | By Ali Winston

Undercover Oakland Police arrest injunction defendants

Norteño gang graffiti. Photo by http://www.flickr.com/photos/metalcowboy/2761077635/#/

David Hernandez, one of the 40 alleged gang members named on Oakland’s proposed injunction against the Fruitvale Norteños, was arrested at the May First Cinco de Mayo parade in Fruitvale. Hernandez, 21, wears a GPS device around his ankle as part of his conditions of probation: he is also barred from interacting with gang members.

Hernandez’s crime? According to the police report and his attorney, Jeff Wozniak, he greeted co-defendant Salvador Avalos, while out enjoying the sun and crowd on Sunday afternoon. Undercover OPD officers Mario Bonilla and Eric Barangan tailed Hernandez through the packed streets of International Boulevard near the Fruitvale BART stop.

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FILED UNDER: Police, Cinco de Mayo, Fruitvale, Gang Injunctions, Nortenos, Oakland, Oakland Police Department

May 4, 2011 | 1:38 PM | By Ali Winston

Russo resigns, Oakland City Council to vote on gang injunction strategy

Ali Winston

Gang injunction opponents and Fruitvale merchants make their views known at an Oakland City Council meeting on May 3, 2011.

More than a year since Oakland filed its first gang injunction in Alameda County Superior Court, the City Council is poised to take action on outgoing City Attorney John Russo’s controversial anti-crime strategy that has polarized parts of the city and exacerbated police-community tensions.

Representatives from the Oakland Police Department and City Attorney’s office were conspicuously absent from last night’s meeting. In a joint letter to the council, Russo and Police Chief Anthony Batts said their staff was tied up with preparations for closing arguments Friday for the city’s second gang injunction against 40 alleged Norteños in the Fruitvale neighborhood.

Vice Mayor Desley Brooks, whose District 6 may be the target of a third gang injunction, was livid at the absence of OPD and City Attorney personnel and the lack of information provided to the council on the subject.

“It is incumbent on staff to be here, that’s what the charter says. It’s inappropriate,” Brooks said. “The City Attorney never received authorization to enter into this litigation.”

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FILED UNDER: Politics, Anthony Batts, Gang Injunctions, John Russo, Oakland, Oakland City Attorney, Oakland City Council

May 3, 2011 | 3:07 PM | By Ali Winston

Gang injunction report to go before full Oakland Council tonight

Puck Lo

Opponents of Oakland's gang injunction strategy outside Alameda County Superior Court in October 2010

As court proceedings on the Fruitvale gang injunction come to a close on Friday, the Oakland City Council will debate gang injunctions as a whole during tonight’s hearing. A In February, injunction opponents and supporters filled the council chambers to the rafters during a three-hour Public Safety Committee hearing on the injunctions.

Tonight, the council will review the same informational report on gang injunctions that was presented to the Public Safety Committee several weeks earlier.

The committee deadlocked over whether to approve or criticize City Attorney John Russo’s anti-gang strategy, with Nancy Nadel and Rebecca Kaplan expressing reservations about the tactic. Patricia Kernighan and Larry Reid did not waver in their support of the North Oakland and Fruitvale gang injunctions.

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FILED UNDER: Police, Gang Injunctions, Oakland, Oakland City Council, Oakland Police Department

April 26, 2011 | 4:34 PM | By Ali Winston

Are the Feds pushing gang injunctions?

The gang injunction strategy pursued by Oakland City Attorney John Russo appears to be part of a federal effort to promote the use of gang injunctions across the country. A joint training program run by the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), a branch of the United States Department of Justice, and the National District Attorneys Association promotes the usage of civil nuisance lawsuits such as the actions pursued by Russo in North Oakland and Fruitvale.

In her introduction to a webinar for local governments about the Federal program, Project Safe Neighborhoods, NDAA Senior Attorney Whitney Tymas emphasized California’s trail-blazing work in establishing gang injunctions.

“This strategy was pioneered by prosecutors in the state of CA,” she said. “And over the past few years NDAA has been privileged to work closely with these California experts to disseminate their knowledge through the fields of prosecution and law enforcement.”

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