P. ex rel. Reisig v. Acuna

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 10, 2017
DocketC068868M
StatusPublished

This text of P. ex rel. Reisig v. Acuna (P. ex rel. Reisig v. Acuna) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
P. ex rel. Reisig v. Acuna, (Cal. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

Filed 3/10/17 (unmodified opn. attached) CERTIFIED FOR PUBLICATION

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA THIRD APPELLATE DISTRICT (Yolo) ----

THE PEOPLE EX REL. JEFF W. REISIG, AS C068868 DISTRICT ATTORNEY, (Super. Ct. No. Plaintiff and Respondent, CVCV04002085)

v. ORDER MODIFYING OPINION TIMOTHY ACUNA et al., [NO CHANGE IN JUDGMENT] Defendants and Appellants.

THE COURT: It is ordered that the opinion filed herein on February 28, 2017, be modified as follows:

1 On page 4, near the end of the paragraph that started on page 3 with “Appellants argue evidentiary error” delete the sentence “For its part, the Attorney General offers this court no help, instead compounding the problem with a 458-page rambling respondent‟s brief plus 28-page addendum.”

BY THE COURT:

RAYE , P. J.

HULL , J.

BUTZ , J.

2 Filed 2/28/17 (unmodified version) CERTIFIED FOR PUBLICATION

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA THIRD APPELLATE DISTRICT (Yolo) ----

THE PEOPLE EX REL. JEFF W. REISIG, AS C068868 DISTRICT ATTORNEY, etc., (Super. Ct. No. Plaintiff and Respondent, CVCV04002085)

v.

TIMOTHY ACUNA et al.,

Defendants and Appellants.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Yolo County, Kathleen M. White, Judge. Affirmed.

Law Office of Mark E. Merin and Mark E. Merin, Cathleen A. Williams and Paul H. Masuhara for Defendants and Appellants.

Kamala D. Harris, Attorney General, Michael P. Farrell, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Eric L. Christoffersen, Deputy Attorney General, Robert C. Nash , Deputy Attorney General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

Eight individuals appeal from a civil judgment granting a permanent (seven-year) injunction enjoining public nuisance activities of a criminal street gang.

1 Yolo County District Attorney Jeff W. Reisig on behalf of the People of the State of California (plaintiff), filed this civil action against the Broderick Boys criminal street gang (a/k/a BRK a/k/a BSK a/k/a Norteno a/k/a Norte a/k/a XIV) and 23 of its members, to enjoin as a public nuisance (Civ. Code, §§ 3479-3480) activities in a 2.98-square-mile area (safety zone) of West Sacramento. The safety zone is bounded by Harbor Boulevard to the west, the Sacramento River to the north and east (but not including the area previously known as the Lighthouse Marina and Golf Course), and by Highway 50/Business Loop 80/State Route 275 to the south. In a prior appeal, we affirmed, for the most part, a preliminary injunction. (People ex rel. Reisig v. [Timothy] Acuna (2010) 182 Cal.App.4th 866 (Acuna I).) This appeal by eight individual defendants (appellants) comes after a bench trial during which the eight appellants were represented by various attorneys. The trial served as a prove-up hearing as to defaulting defendant Broderick Boys. The trial court issued a judgment and permanent (seven-year) injunction against defendant Broderick Boys, its a/k/a‟s, and its “active members” including but not limited to 17 individual defendants -- Timothy Acuna, Victor Dazo, Jr., Alex Estrada, Ramon Esquilin, Jesse Garcia, Michael Hernandez, Rainey Martinez, William McFadden, Robert Montoya, Michael Morales, Guillermo Duke Rosales, Robert Sanchez, Paul Savala, Abel Trevino, Felipe Valadez, Jr., Billy Wolfington, and Tyson Ybarra. Several of the original defendants were dismissed.1

1 The trial court dismissed Thomas Cedillo, Robert Cortez, Victor Ferreira, Rudy Tafoya, and William Ybarra, Jr. But the trial court found Ferreira, Tafoya, and Ybarra were active Broderick Boys members at relevant times. The court severed the case as against defendant Rudy Ornelas, finding him unavailable because of his pending criminal case and withdrawal of his attorney in this civil case. The judge considered Ornelas‟s activity on the question of Broderick Boys‟ pattern of criminal activity. The trial court found Ornelas was a Broderick Boys member, noted he was convicted of offenses including attempted murder in trial court case No. CRF 07-005385, and ordered plaintiff to proceed against Ornelas or dismiss him; it is not clear what choice plaintiff made.

2 The trial court found Broderick Boys is a criminal street gang which, through its members, creates a public nuisance in the safety zone by engaging in violent assaults, robberies, trespass, theft, illegal possession of weapons, possession of drugs for sale, “tagging” public and private property with gang symbols, displaying gang symbols and signals to intimidate residents, and threatening and retaliating against persons perceived to have disrespected the gang. The injunction enjoins the gang and its active members from engaging in nuisance activities and also restrains them from other activities including (1) associating with known members (standing, sitting, walking, driving, gathering, or appearing in public) except inside or traveling to or from school or church, and (2) being out in public between 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m., subject to exceptions. This appeal from the permanent injunction is limited to the eight defendants/appellants -- Timothy Acuna, Alex Estrada, Jesse Garcia, Robert Montoya, Michael Morales, Guillermo Duke Rosales, Felipe Valadez, Jr., and Billy Wolfington. We have no need in this appeal to address enforceability of the injunction as to anyone else. Appellants argue evidentiary error, insufficiency of evidence, constitutional claims, and miscellany. They fail to show prejudicial evidentiary error, yet appear to assume in their substantial evidence argument that we should disregard the evidence they challenged. Appellants misstate facts and law (despite taking almost a year to prepare the opening brief) and fail to support each factual assertion in their brief with a citation to the record, as required by California Rules of Court, rule 8.204(a)(1)(C). Appellants‟ reply brief acknowledges the opening brief‟s factual misstatements and defects but dismisses them as inconsequential and nonprejudicial to plaintiff. Appellants thus miss the point that they have the duty on appeal to state the evidence fairly, in the light most favorable to the trial court‟s ruling, and record citations are for the benefit of the reviewing court as well as the respondent. (Foreman & Clark Corp. v. Fallon (1971) 3 Cal.3d 875, 881 (Foreman); Lewis v. County of Sacramento (2001) 93 Cal.App.4th 107, 112-114

3 (Lewis).) Appellants‟ neglect is particularly burdensome, given that they submitted 380 pages of initial briefing (114-page opening brief plus 266 pages of addenda of purported facts and objections). For its part, the Attorney General offers this court no help, instead compounding the problem with a 458-page rambling respondent‟s brief plus 28-page addendum. Appellants‟ 71-page reply brief rounds out the mass. Despite appellants‟ defects, we nevertheless endeavor to address their contentions. Appellants appear to advocate a standard whereby an individual cannot be subject to a gang injunction unless he personally commits multiple nuisance activities. We explain the correct standard is that an individual can be subject to the injunction if he is an active member of a gang whose members commit nuisance activities, and active membership does not mean personal commission of multiple nuisance activities. Additionally, much of appellants‟ briefing hinges on the flawed premise, unsupported by authority, that the relative success of the preliminary injunction in reducing nuisance activity must inure to appellants‟ benefit, commanding a conclusion that there is no longer an ongoing need for injunctive relief.

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