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Judge dismisses gang 'safety zone' penalizing gang members in East Lake Courts

Chattanooga Times Free Press - 10/9/2018

Oct. 09--Nearly two years after it was filed, a Hamilton County judge has dismissed the "safety zone" in East Lake Courts that aimed to penalize alleged gang members for associating with each other and committing crimes.

In a 17-page order filed Monday, Criminal Court Judge Barry Steelman said prosecutors didn't prove their case by clear and convincing evidence against the 30-or-so alleged gang members whose reportedly violent behaviors they wanted to curtail in East Lake Courts.

Specifically, Steelman ruled one of the state's main pieces of evidence, the validation forms that police officers use to classify people as gang members, weren't admissible in the case. He also noted prosecutors didn't introduce enough criminal convictions into the record that would prove the defendants engaged in a pattern of gang offenses.

Steelman's order dissolved the "safety zone," which he temporarily ordered into effect in December 2016. Though police developed an enforcement policy, they didn't want to implement it until every defendant was served and ultimately never enforced it.

Hamilton County District Attorney General Neal Pinkston brought this case in September 2016 against 31 men, saying they had criminal histories and belonged to two criminal street gangs: the Gangster Disciples and Grape Street Crips.

Pinkston said he wanted a judge to approve a "safety zone" that would prohibit them from drinking beer, owning graffiti equipment, alerting other to the presence of police, using guns and drugs and hanging out with each other. Otherwise, they could be fined $50 or face up to 30 days in jail for violations.

During a first hearing in October 2016, Pinkston called police officers, an East Lake Courts resident and a few business leaders who testified that criminal gangs were responsible for the neighborhood violence -- and got Steelman to agree to a temporary version of the zone.

But defense attorneys said Pinkston needed to prove each man belonged to a gang and how they contributed to the violence in East Lake Courts. They argued the "safety zone," used in other cities nationwide, violates a person's First Amendment right to freedom of association by telling them who they can and cannot hang out with.

During a 45-minute trial in April to determine whether the "safety zone" would become permanent, defense attorney Chrissy Mincy said prosecutors never made that connection, never entered convictions into the record and instead relied on gang validation forms. Prosecutors responded that crime rates fell between 2016 and 2017 in East Lake Courts because the temporary zone had driven away some defendants.

Chattanooga police officers regularly validate people they believe are gang members using a points system. Tattoos, self-admittance and associating with other gang members each carry a different amount, and a person only needs 10 points to be validated.

In this case, prosecutors wanted to introduce about 45 of those forms under a "business records" rule, but Mincy said a different rule applied and asked for them to be thrown out. She said the forms are hearsay and based on potentially outdated information: For instance, one officer could use information from another to compile a validation without verifying the initial information is still correct.

In his order, Steelman said he believed a different rule applied to the validation forms since they're created by a public agency, the Chattanooga Police Department, and not a "business, institution, profession, occupation and calling of every kind, whether or not conducted for profit."

This is a developing story. Please check back later for more information.

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