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OGDEN — A court injunction designed to break up Ogden's oldest and largest gang could get permanent status. A judge is hearing arguments from both sides all this week.
The Weber County Attorney's office brought several expert witnesses to the stand Tuesday to help prove their theory that the gang injunction the city issued ??? has caused the Ogden Trece Gang to slowly fall apart.
But lawyers for those gang members say their rights are being violated, and they say there's no evidence the injunction is having any impact on crime.
Ogden City Prosecutor Mike Junk was one of several expert witnesses who testified that criminal activity from the city's most notorious gang is way down, especially in Ogden's downtown entertainment district.
In all of my years as a prosecutor, I've found that this has been the most effective tool: to limit, or to go at crime before it occurs.
–Mike Junk, Ogden City prosecutor
"In all of my years as a prosecutor, I've found that this has been the most effective tool: to limit, or to go at crime before it occurs," Junk said.
He says it's made the downtown area safer for everyone else. But attorney Randy Richards, who is currently representing several members of the Trece gang, calls the claim "debatable."
Richards says the injunction, which prohibits known members and associates of the gang from being seen together in public, is a violation of their constitutional rights.
"(The) first amendment, second, fourth, fifth, sixth, ninth and 14th" have all been violated," Richards said.
Still, county attorneys are trying to make that injunction stick, permanently.
"Their rights aren't more important than the rights of the law-abiding citizens," said Weber County Attorney Dee Smith. "We have rights as well, and we have the right to be free from these gang crimes."
Prosecutors brought a handful of expert witnesses to the stand — mostly law enforcement officers — each explaining why gang crimes in Ogden are on the major decline.
"it's reduced gang crime, it's reduced gang graffiti, and it's made our citizens much safer," Smith said.
Still, defense attorneys say nothing in Tuesday's hearing drew a clear conclusion that an injunction against Trece gang members made that happen.
"Their own witnesses have identified the fact that before the injunction was in place, crime was on the downward slide," said defense attorney Michael Studebaker.
Members of the Trece gang were not in court Tuesday. According to their attorneys, if two or more of their clients would have showed up, it would be a violation of that injunction and they could be arrested.
The trial is expected to wrap up by Thursday.
