Approach to suspects criticized

CLEVELAND (AP) — Almost two dozen residents of an inner-city neighborhood are scheduled to go on trial next week on charges that they were part of a gang.

Prosecutors, using a state law to crack down on gang activity, plan to argue that all members of the gang are responsible for violent acts committed by a few of its members. But parents of some of the accused, as well their defense attorneys, say the broad law sweeps up inner-city black youths based on where they live and who their neighbors are.

The defendants, accused of being part of the LA Gunnaz, could get more than a decade in prison if they are convicted — some without throwing a punch or firing a gun.

Most of the accused are between the ages of 15 and 22 and lived on the city’s southeast side.

Some of the youths have dealt drugs and wielded guns, but almost half have never been convicted of a crime.

“They went to the same schools, some since kindergarten,” said Brenda Jacobs, mother of one of the arrested teens. “And even though some of them have been in trouble and done some things wrong doesn’t mean they are all in some gang together.”

Investigators say the youths were involved in a half-dozen incidents, including two shootings. They point to Internet pictures of the group on MySpace in which some of the youths wore Los Angeles Dodgers jackets, hats and sported blue bandanas. Jean-Marc Behar, the agent with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives who investigated the case, said they wore the items to affiliate with the national Crips gang.

“I can sleep better at night knowing that I can put away someone who has a propensity for violence,” Behar said.

Defense attorneys say they will refuse plea deals. Some of their clients might admit to an assault or a single incident, but there was no organization between the clients, they said.

Michael Goldberg called the evidence against his now 19-year-old client thin. The teen is accused of being on a street corner during a 2006 shooting.

“If he’s responsible by just standing there, that’s as dangerous as the gang problem in this city,” Goldberg said.

But Assistant County Prosecutor Eleanor Hilow said that in at least two incidents — a 2006 shooting where two men were injured and a 2007 fist fight that resulted in a rival being shot — arguments escalated when the youths accused of being in the gang made calls.

“They have a mob effect,” Hilow told Juvenile Court Judge Kristin Sweeney. “There’s not one innocent person standing on a street corner.”