People v. Superior Court

Good Law

120 Cal. App. 4th 950·15 Cal. Rptr. 3d 921·2004 Cal. App. LEXIS 1154·2004 Daily Journal DAR 8894·2004 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 6536

Court of Appeal of CaliforniaJuly 21, 2004A106264California3,167 words

Opinion

Sepulveda, J.

The People of the State of California seek to overturn a trial court order dismissing gang charges under the California Street Terrorism Enforcement and Prevention Act (Penal Code § 186.20 et seq., hereafter, the STEP Act). The People contend the trial court erred in ruling (1) the STEP Act does not apply when the only alleged gang activity is felony vandalism, and (2) application of the STEP Act to real parties in interest would be unconstitutional.

We conclude STEP Act allegations were properly included in the indictment. We grant the People’s petition for writ of mandate.

BACKGROUND

After hearing testimony from 27 witnesses, the San Francisco County Grand Jury returned an indictment against real parties Camille Johnson, Christopher Lindig, David Larsen, David Lieberman, Casey Watson, Joshua Lazcano, Colin Carlton, and Keeghan McHargue. All were charged with actively participating in a criminal street gang, a violation of section 186.22, subdivision (a). In various combinations or individually, real parties were further charged with 22 counts of felony vandalism (§§ 594, 594.7) and one count of conspiracy to commit a crime (§ 182, subd. (a)(1)). All but one of the…

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