Legal Update: Defining a Gang

KPBS | By KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published May 13, 2008 at 9:43 AM PDT

This story was published more than 16 years ago.

What is the legal definition of a gang? These Days legal analyst Dan Eaton explores how two San Diego cases may require the law to interpret what is, and isn't, a gang.

Tom Fudge: Some members of a half-dozen fraternity organizations at San Diego State have been charged with selling drugs on campus. Five members of a group called the Bird Rock Bandits, are on trial for murder, in connection with the killing of a 24-year-old Emery Kauanui.

What do these two cases have in common? They both involved groups of young men who could be charged with gang-related crimes. Gang-related charges may be unlikely in the drug case. But prosecutors are already trying to pursue gang charges against the five murder defendants. That's even though their so-called gang is located in La Jolla, not a place that's known as a nest of gang activity.

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Guest

Dan Eaton ,San Diego attorney and These Days legal analyst.