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If the leader of the Ogden Trece street gang would stand up and identify himself, it would solve at least one potential problem with a controversial court injunction prohibiting gang members from congregating in Ogden City.
On Monday, members of the Utah Supreme Court quizzed Weber County Attorney Dee Smith about how alleged Trece members were notified of the injunction, which was approved Sept. 27 by 2nd District Judge Ernie Jones.
According to Utah Court rules, court summonses must be delivered to corporations or "unincorporated associations" — as the gang tentatively has been labeled — by giving a copy to "an officer, a managing or general agent or other agent" of the association.
But Smith told the high court, "Due to the nature of the gang, I don't think we could say who is in charge."
Instead, with the help of police who identified people with "deep ties" to the gang, summonses were personally served on five such people and mailed to 12 others, Smith said.
But attorney David Reymann, representing four of the people served, asked the justices for an emergency stay of the injunction until the court can fully study the issue.
"People have been, and will be, arrested for violation of the injunction," Reymann said.
The high court took the issue under advisement, giving no indication when it might rule.
The injunction is based on the city's public nuisance law. Once an alleged gang member has been notified of the court order, the next time that member is found in violation, the member is arrested and charged with a class B misdemeanor.
The injunction includes an 11 p.m. curfew and prohibits 485 Ogden Trece members and associates from congregating inside a zone that includes most of Ogden City.
Defense attorney Michael Studebaker said he represents an 18-year-old man who knew nothing about the injunction until he was stopped by police earlier this month for a curfew violation. After an officer determined the man was on a list of Trece gang members and associates, the man was given a copy of the injunction. The next night, the same officer again stopped the man — who claims he is not a gang member — and arrested him for violating the injunction, Studebaker told news reporters.
Reymann called the injunction "a new and untested tool."
"No one is trying to minimize the impact of crime," Reymann told reporters. "But this tool is a violation of their constitutional rights."
He pointed to the "scope and sweeping provisions" of the injunction, as well as the problems with serving notice on alleged gang members.
"They are not organized for speaking with one voice," he said of the gang.
But Smith said such injunctions have been "working well" in California for 20 years.
He said Ogden police already have observed a decrease in vehicle burglaries, as well as the congregation of gang members..
"Gang members are trying very hard to avoid the police," Smith said.
Ogden Trece members have been responsible for crimes ranging from murder to drug dealing to graffiti, according to Smith.