Cobb County District Attorney Vic Reynolds issued a warning earlier this year that Georgia is in a state of crisis due to rising criminal street gang activity. Reynolds is sending out another warning as 2015 ends — this time to street gang members: “If you commit gang related crimes in Cobb County you will pay a substantial price.”
In November, Reynolds and Assistant District Attorney Mike Carlson successfully prosecuted a member of the criminal street gang SUR 13. Johannes Lopez, 27, was involved in two separate shootings of innocent people. He shot at four people with a shot gun and hand gun because their cars were the same color as of one of SUR 13’s rival gangs. In other words, these innocent people –including a pregnant woman and two children– were fired on simply because they were in a red car, Reynolds said.
Lopez was convicted on multiple counts including violation of the Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act, aggravated assault, firearms possession and criminal damage to property in the first degree. “This was an important verdict, especially for Cobb County,” said Reynolds, a staunch advocate for use of Georgia’s Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act in criminal prosecution.
“The verdict sends a clear message to our local citizens that in Cobb County we intend on indicting, prosecuting, and sentencing aggressively for gang cases. It also sends a message to law enforcement that although gang investigations are more difficult and time consuming to investigate and charge, that in the long run it is worth it.”
A week after the jury returned the verdict, Cobb County Superior Court Judge Lark Ingram sentenced Lopez to 50 years in prison to be followed by 50 years of probation for 26 counts of violation of the Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act, aggravated assault, criminal damage to property and possession of a firearm by a felon, according to court records. The State had asked for a sentence of 345 years.
Fortunately, none of the four people in the two vehicles was hurt, Reynolds said.
During the eight-day trial, prosecutors called gang experts to the stand. The authorities testified that Lopez has an extensive criminal history related to his gang membership. According to testimony, Lopez had been released from prison in May 2013 following another felony conviction in Cobb. In fact, according to Reynolds, Lopez has been arrested on 10 previous occasions, but had only been charged with a gang charge once and that charge was later dismissed.
“This made the prosecution of Lopez under the Street Gang statute more difficult. An obvious question any jury would have is why hasn’t he been charged with gang violations before. The State has to explain that as part of their case.”
Prosecutors were able to introduce prior convictions during the trial, but according to Reynolds the fact that Lopez had not been charged under the gang act made this trial more difficult.
“We had to go back in time and prove the gang acts from previous incidents with actual witnesses,” said Reynolds. “If the defendant had been charged and convicted at the time of the previous acts, it would have been easier for the State to introduce. In this case, we found witnesses who were able to testify about the previous incidents and their gang connection, thus giving the judge the appropriate legal avenue to admit the acts in the current trial.”
While Reynolds is a huge advocate for the Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act, he admits it can be difficult to gain a conviction under the statute.
“The State must prove not only that the defendant was associated with a gang, but must also prove the defendant’s actions were intended to further the interests of the gang,” he said.
Exact numbers and statistics on street gang membership seem hard to come by in Georgia cities and counties. However, the statistics reported in state and national reports are staggering. And they are on the rise.
A 2011 National Gang Threat Assessment Survey by the FBI states that there are approximately 1.4 million gang members nationwide — an increase of 400,000 from just two years before. The report also found that nearly 33,000 gangs are currently operating in the U.S. and are responsible for an average of 48 percent of the violent crimes in most jurisdictions, and up to 90 percent in several others.
Officials with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation predict there are about 20,000 gang members in metro Atlanta. In fact, as early as 2003, federal reports recognized growing concern in Georgia over the increased presence of older and more experienced gang members from Chicago and Los Angeles. And in the 2003 Georgia Drug Threat Assessment, it was reported that Georgia has one of the largest populations of the LA-born street gang MS 13.
Cobb County police report 122 street gangs currently active in their county.
