SANTA ANA – Dozens of men reputed to be members of a Santa Ana street gang sat in a courtroom gallery Friday – many wearing shirts and ties – and heard a judge tell them they no longer can hang out together, wear gang clothing or stay out past a 10 p.m. curfew in their neighborhood.
Superior Court Judge Daniel Didier said there is "overwhelming compelling evidence" that the Santa Nita street gang is causing a public nuisance in west Santa Ana and east Garden Grove.
He granted a temporary injunction sought by the Orange County District Attorney's Office and the city of Santa Ana that restricts 134 people, alleged to be members of Santa Nita, from engaging in 15 specific activities inside their territory.
It was the first anti-gang junction ever granted in Orange County. . . .
[T]he injunction is the first civil effort in Orange County to curtail a street gang since 1993, when an Orange County judge rejected a similar attempt against a Westminster gang as unconstitutional.
But since then, the state Supreme Court has ratified the injunction as a legal strategy to combat gang violence.
Details here from the Orange County Register.