High Court To Rule On Idaho Gang Law

Idaho's highest court is considering whether the state's gang recruitment law unconstitutionally limits the right to free association.  In 2008 Caldwell resident Simona Manzanares became the first person in Idaho to be sentenced under the state's Criminal Gang Enforcement Act after police said she recruited teenagers and younger children at concerts and car shows to join a local gang. But Manzanares appealed her sentence, saying Idaho's gang recruitment law is unconstitutional in a number of ways: That it punishes those who express their right to free association, that it punishes expressive conduct, that it's vague and doesn't adequately define the term "gang member" and that it prohibits a class of people from keeping or bearing arms.