The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Kemp's gang plan collects yeas and nays
Attorneys say laws now are strict, oppose more aggressive approach.
Gov. Brian Kemp’s proposal Thursday for harsher penalties in gang cases drew tearful gratitude from the mother of an 11-year-old murder victim, as well as a strong rebuke from Georgia’s defense attorneys.
The Nicholas Sheffey Act, named for the Chamblee boy who was killed in a 2010 drive-by shooting, would give judges the option to add drastically more prison time for convicted gang members than current law allows and let prosecutors seek the death penalty more often.
“We will send a clear message,” Kemp said, “to those who want to prey upon our families, our communities and our young people, that their actions will have big consequences.”
For defendants convicted of multiple crimes in a gang case, the bill would let judges sentence them to an additional five to 15 years in prison for each count, instead of five to 15 years for the whole case. That could easily leave more convicted gang members facing the rest of their lives behind bars, as is the case with
the man who killed Nicholas.
Cody Bauer, 21, was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole, plus an extra life sentence and 675 years.
Police have said Bauer, a member of the Crips, was targeting the boy’s 16-yearold brother, but instead shot the younger child in the head as he was sleeping.
In a lengthy statement, the Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers said the state’s gang laws and sentencing guidelines are already strict — as evidenced by the sentence for Nicholas’ killer.
The legislation also has defense attorneys on edge because the governor has proposed decreasing funding for public defenders and increasing funding for prosecutors and the GBI.
Nicholas’ mother is most thankful for another part of the proposal: The bill would make defendants in gang-related murder cases automatically eligible for the death penalty. The death penalty can already be used in a wide range of cases that could include gang incidents, although capital punishment has become far less common in recent years, as life without parole has become more common.
“If I’d had my way, it would’ve been (the) death penalty,” Nicholas’ mother, Deborah Rider, said after the news conference.
The mother said the prosecutor told her the case wasn’t eligible for the death penalty under the law at the time.
A companion bill would create a legal division of the GBI so that, when requested, the agency’s lawyers could serve as special prosecutors.
That’s an attempt to help rural or understaffed district attorney’s offices handle more gang cases, which are notoriously time-consuming.
In Kemp’s budget proposal this year, he is asking legislators to approve spending nearly $2 million for seven new positions on the GBI’s Gang Task Force and resources to set up the statewide gang database.
Critics have questioned whether gang-related issues in Georgia are as pronounced as Kemp’s office suggests. Since 2011, violent crime is down 13% in the state, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
GBI Director Vic Reynolds recently told legislators that gang activity was the top concern for Georgia law enforcement in a 2019 survey.
“Investing in prevention and not prosecution is the only answer to solve this purported gang crisis we are facing,” said Ashleigh Merchant, a Marietta defense attorney who is the legislative chair at the state criminal defense association.
Asked about the administration’s efforts for prevention, officials pointed to gang-combating programs in the state prison system, which has increased antigang efforts in recent years. The administration also said Kemp’s proposed teacher raises could help kids, as could the record low unemployment rate in the state.
Dominic Stokes, who founded Community Teen Coalition to help deter young people from joining gangs, said he’s generally supportive of the governor’s efforts to hold criminal gang members accountable, but beyond just locking people up, Stokes wants to hear more discussion about prevention and intervention.
“Five years from now (the gang issue) is going to increase if we don’t intervene,” he said.
Reynolds stressed that it would be up to judges whether to impose stricter sentences.
“I think you need to give judges discretion to focus harsher sentencing on gang members who commit more violent crime, who have a history of gang activity, as opposed to first-timers,” he said.