Valley leaders push for harsher punishments for group attacks, youth violence

PHOENIX — Maricopa County’s top prosecutor wants Arizona lawmakers to inflict harsher punishments on suspects involved in group attacks.

In fact, Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell wants to push a new law that would slot gang-style assaults into a new type of criminal category: swarming. It refers to attacks involving a single victim and multiple assailants.

“This is, for the most part, what we have been seeing in recent cases of teen violence,” Mitchell said during a Wednesday news conference in Queen Creek. “This mob mentality that is demonstrated in these cases is significantly more dangerous for the victim, and that danger needs to be reflected in our laws.”

This style of assault has been pervasive among East Valley youths over the past few years. In fact, the Gilbert Police Department has an entire webpage devoted to investigating these crimes, some of which go back to 2022.

“The proposed legislation adds language to the current law that if you commit an assault and are aided by two or more accomplices, the charge would be a Class 4 punishment,” Mitchell said. “This swarming legislation will, of course, need the support of lawmakers.”

NOW: Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell, joined by Queen Creek Mayor Julia Wheatley and others, is calling for legislation to help prosecute youth violence cases.

Mitchell says it will address “swarming,” which is when a group collectively attacks another person. @KTAR923. pic.twitter.com/JdU02AaNPc

— Balin Overstolz (@balin_om) September 11, 2024

Why Arizona leaders want harsher punishments for group attacks

Several prominent Valley leaders, including Republican Arizona state Rep. Matt Gress, gathered with Mitchell as she announced her legal goal.

“The town of Queen Creek knows painfully well the dangers of swarming,” Gress said. “Preston Lord — the loss of Preston Lord — at the hands of a brutal teenage mob: It’s unacceptable and it deserves a statewide response.”

He referred to a fatal group assault on a 16-year-old teen that took place in October 2023. Lord died from his injuries two days after the group of youths assaulted him. Seven suspects were arrested and charged with first-degree murder for the attack.

Passing a new law to intensify punishments against assailants who commit brutal group attacks would better hold suspects accountable, Gress said. He is one of two state lawmakers who vowed to support the bill in the next legislative session. The other is fellow Republican Rep. Julie Willoughby.

The conference also involved Queen Creek leaders who have been vocal about fighting youth violence. That included Queen Creek Police Chief Randy Brice.

“Right now … if you have an assault involving five, six, seven people surrounding somebody, it could be just a misdemeanor. The charging, how we put people in custody, bond amounts, those are all affected by that,” Brice said. “This is going to be an outstanding piece of legislation.”

What exactly would the law on youth violence do?

One particular gang, known as the Gilbert Goons, has been connected to a string of swarming-style assaults, with some cases going back to 2022. A vast network of suspects has been largely charged with misdemeanors as well as Class 6 crimes, which are the least serious class of felonies in Arizona.

The proposed legislation would impose a harsher felony charge than what suspects currently face if they’re accused of being part of group attacks of three or more assailants.

Mitchell said her office has been researching and crafting the proposal to hold youth violence offenders accountable.

This is because one of the greatest challenges in prosecuting youth violence cases was dealing with limitations of Arizona’s current laws, she added.

“The way it stands right now, unless an offender causes serious physical injury, or uses or fashions a weapon, or causes substantial injuries, such as a broken bone, these crimes, under the law, are considered misdemeanors,” Mitchell said. “When we charged some of the cases, we were able to raise the misdemeanors to Class 6 felonies by alleging the victims’ ability to resist was impaired.”

However, Class 6 felonies are considered the least serious in Arizona. Furthermore, they can be lowered to misdemeanors. That’s not the case for Class 4 felonies, which can’t be downgraded.