Judge Imposes Strict Limits on Venice Gang

A Superior Court judge on Friday banned 35 men named as Venice Shoreline Crips from associating freely in their Oakwood neighborhood, despite five hours of testimony opposing the injunction.

Santa Monica Superior Court Judge David Perez excused only two of the 37 men initially named from adhering to the limits set in the lawsuit, filed on behalf of Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti and Los Angeles City Atty. James K. Hahn.

“The residents have a right to live in peace and comfort,” Perez said. “The court sees this injunction as a tool to allow everyone to do that.”

The injunction is in effect in the Venice area bordered by Pacific and Rose avenues and Lincoln and Venice boulevards, as well as in the area bordered by Venice, Sepulveda and Jefferson boulevards and Centinela Avenue, part of Los Angeles that is the known territory of the Culver City gang.

Those named in the Oakwood court order must adhere to a 10 p.m.-to-sunrise curfew and are restricted from carrying pagers, weapons or ammunition, gathering in public, waving at passing cars or standing on private property without written consent of the owner. Those arrested for violating the court order face misdemeanor charges that could send a paroled felon back to prison.

Andre Laurent and Alvin Cooley, the men excused from the court order, both testified that they had not been affiliated with the gang for several years.

Defense attorneys argued that the injunction is not needed because those named are trying to turn their lives around with the support of the Nation of Islam in a new program that emphasizes self-improvement, job training and community-building.

Crips’ attorney James Simmons would not say whether he would appeal the ruling, but his co-counsel, La’chelle Woodert, said the fight is “far from over.”