OGDEN -- The Utah Supreme Court's refusal to block an injunction labeling Ogden's oldest street gang a public nuisance is only the first of many hearings still expected to challenge it.
The high court heard arguments Oct. 25 on Ogden Trece's motion to lift the injunction pending arguments on its constitutionality.
The injunction ordered into law Sept. 27 by 2nd District Judge Ernie Jones bans gang members from associating with each other in public, being in the vicinity of guns, drugs or alcohol and staying out past an 11 p.m. curfew.
Common in California and used in a few other states, the injunction approach is a first for the state of Utah.
In a one-paragraph, three-sentence order signed Monday by Associate Justice Matthew Durrant and released Tuesday by state courts spokeswoman Nancy Volmer, the justices simply said a request for a stay of the injunction was denied.
They did not rule on any of the arguments about the injunction's constitutionality filed by the Weber County Attorney's Office or lawyers for Trece, including the ACLU of Utah.
As County Attorney Dee Smith explained, the justices are still mulling whether they will hear the appeals of the ACLU and others representing alleged Trece members.
The case now returns to 2nd District Court and oral arguments scheduled Nov. 9 before Jones on the constitutional questions raised about the injunction. Many of the defense concerns also are pending before the state Supreme Court, Smith said.
"A lot of the issues are before both courts," he said. "But neither court is likely to wait on the other." Smith said he also "fully expects" the injunction to be aired in a full-blown trial setting before Jones at some point.
The opposition, led by the ACLU and the Salt Lake law firm of Parr, Brown, Gee and Loveless, depicts the injunction as unconstitutional in that it "criminalizes legal behavior" in banning gang members' First Amendment rights of peaceable assembly. The injunction also has been called "over-broad" for making illegal the possession of felt-tip pens as graffiti tools.
Randy Richards, a veteran Ogden attorney who specializes in appeals law, recently joined the opposition, which includes local lawyers Michael Boyle and Michael Studebaker representing accused Trece members.
Richards was also Smith's law partner before Smith was named county attorney to replace Mark DeCaria, now a judge.
"He's got a client, and I represent the county," Smith said. "It's as simple as that."
The injunction has so far brought only a handful of arrests as police work first to individually serve the injunction personally on gang members, estimated to number between 330 and 485.
Trece was formed in 1974 under the name Ogden Knights, according to the 331-page injunction that includes more than 100 pages of photographs of gang tattoos, graffiti, hand signs and clothing, and accuses Trece of everything from graffiti and loud parties to running a car-theft ring and several murders.
The Knights moniker lasted about a year, dropped in favor of the tag "Centro City Locos," read the court papers, and Ogden Trece was adopted as the gang name in 1988.
The high court heard arguments Oct. 25 on Ogden Trece's motion to lift the injunction pending arguments on its constitutionality.
The injunction ordered into law Sept. 27 by 2nd District Judge Ernie Jones bans gang members from associating with each other in public, being in the vicinity of guns, drugs or alcohol and staying out past an 11 p.m. curfew.
Common in California and used in a few other states, the injunction approach is a first for the state of Utah.
In a one-paragraph, three-sentence order signed Monday by Associate Justice Matthew Durrant and released Tuesday by state courts spokeswoman Nancy Volmer, the justices simply said a request for a stay of the injunction was denied.
They did not rule on any of the arguments about the injunction's constitutionality filed by the Weber County Attorney's Office or lawyers for Trece, including the ACLU of Utah.
As County Attorney Dee Smith explained, the justices are still mulling whether they will hear the appeals of the ACLU and others representing alleged Trece members.
The case now returns to 2nd District Court and oral arguments scheduled Nov. 9 before Jones on the constitutional questions raised about the injunction. Many of the defense concerns also are pending before the state Supreme Court, Smith said.
"A lot of the issues are before both courts," he said. "But neither court is likely to wait on the other." Smith said he also "fully expects" the injunction to be aired in a full-blown trial setting before Jones at some point.
The opposition, led by the ACLU and the Salt Lake law firm of Parr, Brown, Gee and Loveless, depicts the injunction as unconstitutional in that it "criminalizes legal behavior" in banning gang members' First Amendment rights of peaceable assembly. The injunction also has been called "over-broad" for making illegal the possession of felt-tip pens as graffiti tools.
Randy Richards, a veteran Ogden attorney who specializes in appeals law, recently joined the opposition, which includes local lawyers Michael Boyle and Michael Studebaker representing accused Trece members.
Richards was also Smith's law partner before Smith was named county attorney to replace Mark DeCaria, now a judge.
"He's got a client, and I represent the county," Smith said. "It's as simple as that."
The injunction has so far brought only a handful of arrests as police work first to individually serve the injunction personally on gang members, estimated to number between 330 and 485.
Trece was formed in 1974 under the name Ogden Knights, according to the 331-page injunction that includes more than 100 pages of photographs of gang tattoos, graffiti, hand signs and clothing, and accuses Trece of everything from graffiti and loud parties to running a car-theft ring and several murders.
The Knights moniker lasted about a year, dropped in favor of the tag "Centro City Locos," read the court papers, and Ogden Trece was adopted as the gang name in 1988.
Centro City Locos is making something of a comeback, CCL turning up in gang tattoos and graffiti, as well as the usual derivations of O13, Trece being Spanish for the number 13.
Trece is the home-grown gang of Ogden residents. Their chief rival gang includes many illegal aliens from Mexico and Los Angeles and often challenges the Ogden gang's "unauthorized" use of the word Trece, officials have said.
The number 13 has significance for the latter gang, referring to the 13th letter in the alphabet, M, tied to the Los Angeles-based Mexican Mafia.
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