The Judge Gets Real, But Why? Tom Hayden The federal judge’s
order means that LA’s top gang reduction officials will be
subpoenaed to state what they know of Alex Sanchez.  In an
unexpected turn, federal Judge Manuel Real today ordered
prosecutors and defense attorneys in the Alex Sanchez case to
request that top LA city and police officials advise the court
about the gang peacemaker’s public activity over the past decade
in a special hearing on January 13. Real repeatedly questioned
the prosecution’s evidence for the first time in the
proceeding’s six-month history.  Lawyers and advocates scrambled
to make sense of the judge’s order, which must be met in six
days. Professor Beatriz Cortez, coordinator of the nation’s
first Central American Studies program at Cal State Northridge,
was among the skeptics. “How will this hearing be conducted,
will it be secret, will the community be left out?” she asked.
Others claimed the judge was going through the motions in
response to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals’ re