Gang injunctions
Many city attorney offices petition the court for a gang injunction prohibiting gang members from associating with each other in public and from certain other conduct. If you are served with a gang injunction, and you are not a gang member, you must fight it within the short window of time allowed, or else you will have forfeited your rights. If the injunction against you is granted, you not only give up many civil liberties, but you become targeted by the police for special attention. If you are arrested, your punishment may be greatly enhanced because you are considered to be a gang member. And you could be arrested for being seen in public with anybody else named in the injunction, and charged with contempt of court for violating the injuction. If you are served with an injuction or with any court papers pertaining to an injunction, contact an attorney immediately.
Gang related crimes
There are quite a few different gang enhancements that can be added to criminal charges. The effects of these allegations are to inflame and prejudice the jury and to significantly increase the punishment for the crime.
If the person in question is not a gang member he must fight the gang allegation. Even if a person is an admitted gang member, and admittedly committed a crime, if that crime was not committed at the direction of or for the benefit of a criminal street gang, the gang enhancement should not apply. This is important because the gang enhancement may carry more years in prison than the crime itself. For instance, if, in this example, the admitted gang member admits that he was driving under the influence (felony 4th time DUI), but he was driving not his homies around, but his mother to the store, that crime will not have been committed at the direction of or for the benefit of a criminal street gang. The gang enhancement should not apply.
Fighting the question of gang membership.
Most organizations have unambiguous criteria for membership. For instance, a lawyer is a member of the California State Bar. The criteria are clear, undisputed, unambiguous and the membership roster is open for anybody to see. There can never be an argument about who is or is not a member of the bar.
Gang membership is quite different. There are no clear guide lines such as those of the State Bar. Police officers will have you believe that their “guidelines” are as reliable those of the State Bar but they are little more than guess work. For instance, when a gang member stops being a gang member, it is usually a gradual drifting away. What is the moment that membership ended? The answer to this seemingly silly question could determine the prison term of a person convicted of a crime with a gang enhancement.
What if you grew up in a rough neighborhood, always surrounded by gang members, even in your own home. But you, yourself never actually joined a gang. Can police really tell you apart from gang members? How can you convince the jury to believe you and not the police, that you are not a gang member? This is where good lawyering comes in. You need the your lawyer to either hire or to have the court appoint the right gang expert. Your lawyer should either hire, or to have the court appoint the right gang expert to assist in your defense. Your lawyer must cross-examine the police witnesses properly to get the jury out of the mind-set of automatically believing them. .
Conclusion
The police and prosecutors have very powerful tools to assist them in obtaining convictions and lengthening sentences in cases that they believe are gang related. If you are accused of gang involvement, you need the best legal help you can get as soon as you can get it.