But, according to foes, it may also turn what could have been a schoolyard fight into a crime that punishes those involved for two and a half years in prison — or more.
HB2611 was prompted by a series of incidents in the East Valley area of Maricopa County occurring for more than a year where a gang of teens that became known as the Gilbert Goons were beating others up. But one incident in particular got public attention: the 2023 death of 16-year-old Preston Lord at a Halloween party in Queen Creek.
All that led to questions of whether existing laws on assault are adequate.
In general, such attacks — the Preston Lord case being the exception because of the death — are considered a Class 6 felony. But Rep. Matt Gress pointed out that Arizona law allows these to be handled by courts as misdemeanors.
By contrast, this legislation creates a Class 4 felony, with a possible prison term, when there is an attack which is “aided by two or more accomplices” and the assault is directed at a single person. Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell, who worked with Gress to craft the measure, called what is happening “swarming.”
In working on the measure, Mitchell said it was a direct outgrowth of growing teen violence.
“It was clear that to truly hold these kinds of attackers accountable, we must have the right tools — meaning the right laws,” she said in a prepared statement at the time.
And Mitchell said that, while the impetus of the measure was teen violence, the bill has a broader reach.
“It will apply not just to children, but to any attacker who foolishly believes that by hiding in a crowd they’ll get away with it,” she said.
But Rep. Alexander Kolodin said creating an entirely new crime is unnecessary.
“Preston Lord’s killers were charged with murder and a variety of other crimes,” said the Scottsdale Republican. “Our criminal laws are sufficient to put them away for the rest of their lives.”
Nor does he believe that, had Gress’ proposal been law, it would have prevented the death.
“Preston Lord’s murderers had previously committed aggravated assault by our current definition,” Kolodin said. What went wrong, he said, was not the laws on the books but those charged with enforcing it.
“The people responsible for Preston Lord’s death are the town of Gilbert and the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office,” Kolodin said, indicating both entities were aware for years of the gang attacks.
That brought a sharp rebuke from Mitchell who told Capitol Media Services it was “another sign of him being soft on crime.” And she also noted that police had never referred any cases to prosecution to her office before the death of Lord.
Kolodin, however, told colleagues they need to look closely at what he sees as the breadth of what they are approving.
“It sends our kids to jail for a very long time, for a very serious felony, for getting into a fight at school that does not cause serious physical injury to anyone,” he said.
In fact, he said, the bill as approved by the House actually says that the “accomplices” do not even need to be present at the fight to make whatever occurred a Class 4 felony.
“What does it even mean to have two accomplices who are not present?” Kolodin asked.
Consider, he said, what happens in a one-on-one fight at a school, with some friends cheering on the assailant from the side.
“And that kid, without ever breaking somebody’s bones, without ever hurting them in any persistent or permanent way, will now spend years in jail so that we can cover up for the people who killed Preston Lord,” Kolodin said.
Gress called his comments “quite a tale … about what this bill is and is not.” Instead, he said it is simple.
“It says if three or more people engage in an assault on a single person, then this statute would allow a prosecutor to prosecute for swarming,” Gress told colleagues.
He also said that this is a probation-eligible offense, meaning that it’s not necessarily true that anyone convicted would be sent to prison for years.
And Gress disputed Kolodin’s claim that nothing in the bill would have prevented the death of Preston Lord.
“The Gilbert Goons had been engaging in a pattern of ganging up on people, single individuals, and attacking them,” he said.
“And they finally crossed the line and took Preston Lord’s life,” Gress continued. “That mob violence should not be tolerated at all.”
That, he said, means giving prosecutors “the tools they need to stop things from getting out of hand.”
But Rep. Lupe Contreras said what happened to Lord — and what Gress said the bill is about —”is way different.” The Avondale Democrat said it puts “kids that were just in a regular fight …in the same (legal) verbiage as mob violence when it was just a brawl or a miscommunication between kids at a schoolyard.”
And the issue is personal.
“I have kids in high school right now,” Contreras said.
“And I would hate for my son to be put in that predicament because somebody did something to his sister and he’s standing up for them, and maybe his friend jumps in,” he said. “And now, all of a sudden, my kid and his friend get into some problem — and it wasn’t mob violence.”
Rep. Justin Olson agreed with Kolodin that what happened to Preston Lord wasn’t because existing laws were inadequate.
“Law enforcement had the tools that they needed to go after these individuals, but they didn’t,” said the Mesa Republican.
“It was a failure of law enforcement,” he continued. “And I’m afraid that we’re rushing to a new policy here today in order to satisfy our frustration that law enforcement did not act to stop the crimes that should have been stopped.”
But Olson ended up voting for the bill anyway, saying he will “stand with law enforcement.”
Rep. Khyl Powell agreed that no one wants their children to end up in prison. The Gilbert Republican suggested that police were slow to respond.
“We constantly asked, ‘Why is this taking so long? Why did a group of hellions roam the town for two years where the police understood and knew all about it?’” he said.
But he, too, supported the legislation.
“Unfortunately, when people cannot manage their behavior, we as legislators must act in order to preserve life,” Powell said.
The measure now goes to the Senate.
