Utah Supreme Court Says Gangs Must Receive Due Notice of Injunctions

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One of Ogden city’s biggest and most violent gangs, the Trece gang just received a reprieve from the Utah Supreme Court which struck down an injunction against the gang on the grounds that the gang did not receive proper notice.

Friday’s decision put Weber County officials in a fix and they are now trying to figure out how to serve ‘due process’ on an entity whose members are constantly changing, and how to track down gang leaders and serve notice upon them.

  

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Weber County Deputy Attorney Branden Miles said the injunction was not unconstitutional, but the Trece gang is violating the rights of law-abiding citizens. With the courts concerned over the civic rights of the close to 300-member gang engaged in crimes like drug trafficking and robberies, an exasperated Miles said, “They’re not the only ones with rights out there, and when very few people can put fear in the vast majority of citizens in our community, we have an obligation to respond to protect the safety of that community.”

The court treats the gang as an unincorporated association and hence any injunction filed against the gang needs to be duly served on the respondents. Even though the authorities served five members of the gang with notices of the injunction, the court deemed it to be insufficient as there was no proof that the leaders of the gang were duly served.

The ACLU has been fighting for the rights of the members of the Trece gang in the matter of this injunction. It holds the injunction, which prevents the gang members from carrying firearms and imposes an 11 pm curfew on them, or being seen together in public is too restrictive and is the equivalent of being on probation or parole.