Way back in June our district attorney Todd Spitzer announced that he was dissolving Orange County’s gang injunctions, all 13 of them, and made it sound like it was something he wanted to do, not mentioning that he was forced to do this by a lawsuit from Chicanos Unidos and Sean Garcia-Leys’ Peace and Justice Law Center. Fine, let Todd call his decision “pro-active,” we’ll have a song about this at the end of the story. But let’s not get distracted, I have a Public Service Announcement here.
Thing is, winding down a big legal institution like 13 gang injunctions doesn’t just happen that quickly, it still has to go to a judge to be officially dissolved, and THAT is happening, finally, six months later, a couple weeks from now, THURSDAY DECEMBER 4. Until then, Gang Injunctions are sort of “in limbo.” The 317 people who were included on them are STILL on them. And Spitzer plans to serve all 317 of them, serve them subpoenas at home or work, ordering them to be at the Courthouse Dec. 4. Which sounds unpleasant. And unnecessary. Keep reading.
There’s a better alternative. If you were/are named on a Gang Injunction or think you may have been; or if you know anybody who fits that description: CALL 909-235-6747. You’ll get a delightful young UCI law intern, who will in turn hook you up with the amazing Sean Garcia-Leys, who did most of the legal work defeating Gang Injunctions in this county, and who will represent you FOR FREE, to have you officially removed, and you won’t have to get subpoenaed and go to court on Dec. 4. If you won’t listen to me, you might listen to my carnal Gilbert:
Do it now. December 4 is coming up. Funny story, from Anna Drive (where Donna and I live, and center of the “East Side Anaheim” gang injunction.) One night a few months ago, Donna called the desk sergeant to complain about how the gang unit cops were treating our innocent young people, and this sergeant (who turns out to LEAD the gang unit) made the excuse that it’s a really rough and dangerous neighborhood: “Did you know it’s covered by a gang injunction?” We told him “No it’s not, Todd Spitzer dissolved gang injunctions!” And he called us back later and told us we were right, except it still had to go through court Dec. 4. Funny the gang unit leader had no idea an age was coming to a close.
So Todd wants to pretend dissolving gang injunctions was his idea, it was “pro-active,” they were “important tools in the past but they’d outlived their usefulness” or some nonsense. When in reality, he was about to lose a case to Sean Garcia-Leys, Chicanos Unidos, and the Peace and Justice Law Center. Fine. When people do that, pretend they’re doing something of their own accord that they’re about to be forced to do, it always reminds me of one of my favorite Rolling Stones songs, written and “sung” by Keith Richard, “I Will Walk Before They Make Me Run.”
Some of this blog’s previous posts about gang injunctions:
- T-Rack’s $4 Million-Dollar Gang Injunction Faceplant in Orange Varrio Cypress (2013)
- What’s a poor law-abiding person gotta do to get themselves off a GANG INJUNCTION in this County? (2020)
- Spitzer & SAPD Seek to EXPAND Townsend St. Gang Injunction Today (2020)
- Chicanos Unidos Success: Spitzer Makes Gang-Injunction Removal Easier! (2020)
- Breaking: Spitzer Files to Dissolve all 13 OC Gang Injunctions (June 2025)
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