Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs signed a new law Monday that increases penalties for group assaults. The legislation was borne out of the fatal beating of a Queen Creek teenager in 2023.
Sixteen-year-old Preston Lord was killed by a group of other teenagers called the "Gilbert Goons," who made similar attacks on other teens.
The bipartisan law bearing his name allows group attackers to be charged with a more serious felony.
The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Matt Gress (R-Gilbert), said Preston is more than a name in the legislative record.
“He is a symbol of why we act, why we legislate, and why we must never grow numb to injustice,” Gress said.
Republican Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell said Preston’s Law will allow her office to levy charges that match the seriousness of those crimes.
“I always knew that Preston was destined to do great things and pave the way as an upstanding young man. Of course, I never imagined that his impact would come through his death, but even in this unimaginable tragedy, he continues to inspire change,” Lord’s mother, Autumn Curiel, said.
Mitchell said when they first started prosecuting the attackers, they saw the crimes initially charged as a misdemeanor — though they were able to bring the charges up to Class 6 felonies.
“It gave us something, but it just felt hollow because it was not nearly to the level of seriousness that what we were seeing was,” Mitchell said.
Going forward, she highlighted her office’s “Report, Don’t Repost” campaign — urging witnesses of teen violence to contact law enforcement rather than just posting pictures and videos on social media.
Mitchell said other states have reached out with interest in that campaign and that it seems to her there’s been a rise in teen violence recently.
