Gang members could get 15 more years in prison under tough new bills

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — Georgia's governor is backing tough new gang legislation.

One of the bills is named for an innocent DeKalb County 11-year old who was killed in a drive-by shooting 10 years ago.

Under the bill, gang members could get an additional five to 15 years in prison for each count, and certain gang members would be automatically eligible for the death penalty.

Nicholas Sheffey’s mother showed Channel 2 investigative reporter Mark Winne the window she says was riddled with gunfire that killed her 11-year-old son.

On Thursday, we got a window into how it affects her still, but also how his death is having an effect under the gold dome.

Winne asked mother Deborah Rider how it feels to know one of the bills is called the Nicholas Sheffey Act.

“It makes (me) know that, you know, my son didn’t die in vain,” Rider said.

Rider says Nicholas was a bright, 11-year-old boy with a Bible in his bunk bed when a gang member killed him in Chamblee in 2010.

“This Bible was on the top bunk with Nicholas. This was his own personal Bible,” Rider said.

He was an innocent victim of gang violence.

“(He’d) never done a bad thing to anyone in his life. Didn’t even know Cody Bauer,” Sheffey said.

Almost a decade later, she stood next to Gov. Brian Kemp for a major announcement about two bills.

“The Nicholas Sheffey Act will make our streets and communities safer,” Kemp said.

“Having that would have led to even more effective prosecution,” Georgia Bureau of Investigation Chief Counsel Mike Carlson said.

Carlson says he was the DeKalb prosecutor who worked with Chamblee police on the case and got guilty pleas from Bauer to murder and gang charges and more and from Alexander Sidloskas and Stedmund Anthony to a number of gang charges.

“I’ve stayed in touch with Ms. Rider,” Carlson said.

Carlson says the two bills the governor is behind would, if passed, dramatically strengthen Georgia’s already tough laws when it comes to gangs in several ways.

“There were times when I wanted to give up, but thank God I didn’t. Thank God I didn’t,” Rider said.

Carlson says one bill, if passed, could put him back in the gang prosecuting business, as it would permit local district attorneys to invite GBI lawyers in as special prosecutors.

“Our lawyers will be even more available to combat the gang crisis,” Carlson said.

When asked where she finds the strength to deal with all of this, Rider told Winne, “Actually, God.”

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