Speak Out for Justice for Luis Gutierrez, Against Gang Injunction

Brothers and Sisters.
Hermanos y Hermanas

Please read the news release from the ACLU below. It is very much the same situation as the case of the "Gang Injunction" excessive enforcement by the Yolo County "Sheriff's and Police agencies where they "assume" "routine" enforcement by "Guilt by association" and by "overly broad restriction," in addition to initiating aggressive gang injunctions that have been used largely in poor communities of color with little proven effect.

“This decision shows that the district attorneys guilt-by-association,” which is the very same situation as in the Yolo County District Attorney's and Police agencies action's in violation of people's Civil Rights as to "Guilt by association," as implemented and interpreted by the recent killing of Luis Gutierrez by the Yolo County Sheriffs Deputies on April 30, 2009.

This calls into question how many other times young men and women have also been unfairly subjected to the overly broad restriction typically imposed by gang injunctions by the Yolo County District Attorney's office in violation of people's right to walk the streets from Fear and the use of excessive at will "Deadly Force.”

We must NOT accept this type of brutal violence against those innocent citizens whom depend from the police protections and NOT as in the most recent violence against our young people. We must speak out at our next "Community meeting" and we must have you take a stand.

We understand that some of us have busy schedules, but there is NO excuse for you not to take the time to take a stand. By us not speaking out, we also become a party to the violence being committed by those that we have given that responsibility to uphold our rights as provided by the U.S. Constitution.

Here is the community meeting announcement, following by the ACLU press release:


IMPORTANTE REUNION COMUNITARIA
COALICION POR LA JUSTICIA
"JUSTICIA PARA LUIS GUTIERREZ"

20 POR FABOR DE NOTAR :
La reunion se llevara acabo el:
JUEVES 28 de Mayo a 6:30 de tarde
Woodland Community Center
(Centro Comunitario de Woodland)
2100 East Street

Woodland, Ca 95695
La Coalición por la Justicia anunciara la aciones de actividades en Woodland y da informar sobre los ultimos pasos sobre las "Investigaciones Policiacas" y sostedra una "Conferencia de Prensa" a las 6:30 de la tarde ,en el mismo lugar de la reunion indicada.

Por Fabor de invitar a sus amigos : Mapa abajo el lugar
http://www.mapquest.com/mq/3-bzVRUBd4cjLobGwxx*Jd

IMPORTANT COMMUNITY MEETING
JUSTICE COALITION
For "JUSTICE FOR LUIS GUTIERREZ"

Important Community meeting for :
Thursday May 28,2009 at 6:30 PM
Woodland Community center
2100 East Street

Woodland, Ca 95695

The Justice Coalition will be announcing further Community actions and will provide additional information as to the ongoing "Police Investigations" and an up date, in addition will hold a press conference at 6:30 pm at the same location.

Please pass on to others and invite them to the meeting.
see map below for driving directions.

1. Merge onto I-5 N toward REDDING. (go 17.6 miles)
2. Take the ROAD 102/CR-E8 exit, EXIT 536. (go 0.3 miles)
3. Turn LEFT onto COUNTY ROAD 102/CR-E8. (go 0.9 miles)
204.
Turn RIGHT onto E GIBSON RD. (go 2.0 miles)
5. Turn LEFT onto EAST ST. (go 1.1 miles)
6. Going South Towards Davis Ca
7. End at 2100 East St Woodland Community Center,Woodland CA, 95695
http://www.mapquest.com/mq/3-bzVRUBd4cjLobGwxx*Jd
EL PUEBLO UNIDO JAMAS SERA VENCIDO !

AL ROJAS
Labor Council for Latin American Advancement AFL-CIO
Frente de Mexicanos en el Exterior (FME)
(916) 712-4251 CELL
http://www.lclaasacramnet o.com

Luis Magana
Organizacion de Trabajadores Agricolas de California (OTAC)
(209) 405-1213
maganaluis [at] hotmail.com,

Paramo Hernandez
Union Civica Primero de Mayo
(916) 825-0402 cell
vallense [at] aol.com

El Consejo Sindical para el Avance del Trabajador Latinoamericano AFL-CIO
Labor Council for Latin American Advancement AFL-CIO
Union Civica Primero de Mayo
Chicano Consortium
American Friends service Committee (AFSC) /Yolo,Sacarmento,San Joaquin County
BAMN
Nation of Islam/ San Joaquin County
Frente de Mexicanos en el Exterior
Justice Reform Coalition,
La Raza Network,
Sac Civil Rights Network
El Organizador (Organizer)
CAIR-Sacramento Valley,
West Sacramento LULAC,
Peace and Freedom Party of Sacramento (Partido Paz y Libertad de Sacramento),

"AHORA ES CUANDO ES EL MOMENTO YA BASTA !!!!

"SI SE VA PODER !!!!
EN SOLIDARIDAD

Al Rojas
Labor Council for Latin American Advancement AFL-CIO


ACLU News Release:

Case Dismissed Against 62 People in Orange County Gang Injunction Case

Thursday, May 14, 2009

SANTA ANA, Calif. – The Orange County Distri ct Attorney‟s Office dismissed the case against five clients of the ACLU of Southern California on Thursday after a Superior Court judge refused to include them on a preliminary basis under the provisions of a sweeping gang injunction. The case against 57 other individuals named in the injunction was likewise dismissed.

The case marks one of the few times that individuals named in a gang injunction have been able to obtain legal representation and defend themselves against the charge they are gang members and should have their activities severely restricted. It also calls into question how many other times young men and women around the region have been unfairly subjected to the soverly broad restriction typically imposed by gang injunctions, said ACLU/SC Staff Attorney Peter Bibring.

“This decision shows that the district attorney’s „guilt-by-association‟ strategy won‟t stand up in court,” Bibring said. “By dropping the case against anyone who offered a defense, the district attorney has conceded the weakness of his case and that he cast too wide a net.”

Erika Vanessa Aranda, Louis DeHerrera, Patrick Philip DeHerrera, Roy David DeHerrera and an unnamed juvenile were among 115 people that Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas had designated in his proposed injunction as among the “most active participants in” the Orange Varrio Cypress gang. Rackauckas has accused the gang‟s memb ers of attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, terrorist threats, robbery, drug sales and other crimes.

“The district attorney would not have dismissed our clients – and so many others -- if there was any evidence that they were dangerous,” said Belinda Escobosa Helzer, a staff attorney for the ACLU/SC‟s Orange County Office. “Their dismissal undermines his earlier claims that the people named in the injunction were all active and dangerous members of a gang.”

In the case of Aranda, Rackauckas‟s office attempted to link her to the gang even though she has never claimed gang membership, has never participated in a gang and has never been convicted of a crime. The district attorney based proof of her membership on three minor incidents, including a charge of trespassing for walking through an abandoned building in a short cut to a school in her neighborhood.

Touted by law enforcement officials as tough and necessary crime-fighting tools, aggressive gang injunctions have been used largely in poor communities of color with little proven effect. They raise issues of racial profiling even as they criminalize everyday activities such as visiting parks and associating with family and friends. In pursuing the injunctions, law enforcement agencies have eroded community trust and endangered the constitutional rights of nongang members to move freely and associate with whomever they like.