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OGDEN — A first-of-its-kind in Utah injunction against an Ogden gang is now before the Utah Supreme Court.
Lawyers challenging the Trece gang injunction and Weber County Attorney Dee Smith addressed the high court Tuesday during oral arguments.
The injunction prohibits Trece members from even meeting together in a designated area of Ogden known as the "Safety Zone," and establishes an 11 p.m. curfew.
The injunction is seen by prosecutors and police as a crime-fighting tool against a gang that has committed numerous crimes in Ogden over the past 30 years. Defense attorneys are arguing the measure is unconstitutional and overly broad, though their arguments in court Tuesday centered around more technical points.
Attorney David Reymann contended the county should have targeted and served gang members individually in the first place, rather than through a mass public notice.
"They say that was too difficult, however they do exactly that in serving 300 members with the gang injunction," defense lawyer Randy Richards said.
Lawyers argued some people who have no gang affiliation have been improperly targeted.
Among those people was Chase Aeschlimann, who attended the Supreme Court proceeding. Aeschlimann said he had old friends who were Trece gang members, but he himself was never a member.
"Moralistically speaking, it's ultimately incorrect," Aeschlimann said. "Basically a lot happened. I couldn't even commence with my own brother out in public."
Related:
Ogden Trece gang gets permanent injunction on activities
The injunction prohibits the estimated 315 to 500 gang members from associating with each other within an area of Ogden designated as the "Safety Zone," regardless of whether they are in the process of committing a crime.Smith said the mass notification was necessary, because the leadership structure of "shot callers" in the Trece gang frequently changed and that was the best way to spread the word.
"The Legislature's clearly defined criminal gang activity as a public nuisance and as an organization that can be sued," Smith said.
California courts have upheld similar injunctions for years. Smith said his office relied heavily on the California injunctions to craft the county's ordinance.
Still, Reymann argued California's laws and Utah's statutes are too dissimilar for the state's high court to draw legal parallels.
"That's completely wrong," Reymann said of Smith's assertion that the two states' laws vary in only minor ways. "They're, on this point, very different in significant ways. California law allows this type of service and Utah law doesn't."
Smith was asked whether the county was considering similar injunctions against other gang members. He said he would wait for the court's ruling to make a determination.
