D. A. Will Not Appeal Loitering Law Ruling
The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office will not appeal a court decision that determined a Lancaster ordinance aimed at eliminating parking lot loitering is unconstitutionally vague, a county prosecutor said Tuesday.
The decision means that county prosecutors will not challenge the dismissal of loitering charges filed against about 14 alleged violators. The dismissals came after the Dec. 27 ruling by Antelope Municipal Judge Frank Jackson.
The judge’s ruling applied only to the cases before him and did not legally void the city’s ordinance. But Steve Cooley, head of the district attorney’s Lancaster office, said prosecutors and sheriff’s deputies plan to honor the ruling and not enforce the ordinance unless the city redrafts it.
Prosecutors opted not to appeal Jackson’s ruling after reviewing a 1988 state appellate court decision that found a similar ordinance in San Jose to be unconstitutional. Cooley said the ruling suggested language like that used in Lancaster’s law would have met the same fate.
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