Georgia
Inside Savannah’s push to prosecute gang-affiliated youth
As Georgia expands its new Gang Prosecution Unit in Savannah, questions are mounting about what “gang-affiliated” really means and how prosecutors decide who fits that label.
State and local leaders say the new unit run by Attorney General Chris Carr will help dismantle violent groups across Coastal Georgia. But Savannah criminal defense attorney Martin Hilliard argues the distinction between gang-related and gang-affiliated is often blurred, and the money poured into gang prosecution doesn’t always lead to safer communities.
Hilliard says someone who is gang-related commits a crime for the furtherance of the gang’s goals, while a person that is gang-affiliated wants to be a part of the gang or has loose connections such as friends, shared symbols or social media posts.
“You can get four kids standing on the street corner wearing a red bandana, and they say this is a member of a gang, because they call themselves similar nicknames,” Hilliard said. “That doesn’t necessarily make them a gang, but the government spends a lot of money and has a lot of money invested in grants to create these gang units.”
Georgia’s fiscal year 2026 budget documents show $268,484 will be allocated to Savannah’s Gang Prosecution Unit.
And earlier this month, Carr announced two new hires. Assistant Attorney General Brian DeBlasiis and Criminal Investigator Jacob Hesting will oversee the unit’s regional efforts in Chatham County by working with law enforcement to investigate and prosecute violent criminal gang activity.
“This new regional team will prove critical as we work to disrupt and dismantle violent criminal street gangs in every corner of our state. We won’t rest in our efforts to keep Georgians safe, and those who terrorize our communities with repeated acts of violence will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Carr said in a press release.
Since Carr rolled out the Gang Prosecution Unit across the state, it has secured 80 convictions and indicted over 140 individuals. In late-April, the unit indicited three people from Chatham County — Treyvon Howard, Rashine Edwards and Jakarie Cowell — with violating the Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act.
The charges stem from two incidents involving the assault of an 18-year-old male at Frazier Homes Apartment Complex on Aug. 8, 2024 and the armed robbery and carjacking of a 44-year-old male at Oglethorpe Mall on Aug. 10, 2024.
“Gang activity has no place in this state, and those who engage in violent crime will be held accountable,” Carr said in a press release. “We’re working each day to disrupt and dismantle the growing gang networks that are terrorizing our communities, and we’re proud to be in this fight with our partners at the Savannah Police Department. We won’t hesitate to ensure the rule of law is enforced because keeping Georgians safe is our top priority.”
A person found guilty of unlawful gang activity in Georgia can be sentenced anywhere from five to 20 years in prison on top of the other charges the state alleges are in furtherance of the gang’s goals.
“Is it actually going to change anything? No.”
Hilliard, who has spent 30 years as an attorney in Savannah, said the state’s laws on gang violence do nothing to reduce the crime.
“It makes a lot of scared people feel better, but it doesn’t actually change anything. It makes you feel good, but it doesn’t change the actual crime,” he said. “A murder is still a murder. A robbery is still a robbery. Drug dealing is still drug dealing. What do you gain by putting additional penalties on it? What does it actually change?”
Many of those who could face gang-related charges, he says, are often as young as 14 to 16 years old.
“It’s a young man’s game. They get out there and they’re looking for clout, dope, money or territory. They either get it, go to prison or get killed along the way,” Hilliard said.
In 20 years, he has seen gangs proliferate in the streets and funding for gang prosecution rise as a response — all the while, legislators have yet to get to what he thinks is the real root of the problem — lack of fathers in the home, unstable housing economics and seeing friends and family profit from committing criminal acts.
Savannah Mayor Van Johnson and Aldermen created a housing task force in 2020 to identify the city’s housing needs. Within six months of conducting research, the task force found that Savannah does not have enough quality housing available at affordable costs for a large portion of its residents.
Housing is considered affordable when rent or mortgage payments do not exceed 30% of a household’s gross income.
Over the past 30 years, the task force found housing expenses have outpaced incomes at a rate of at least 2:1, leaving 40% of Savannah households with incomes less than $50,000 annually not being able to afford quality housing.
“There are solutions to crime. Invest your money in the kids. Invest your money in the parents, and you might prevent them from becoming gang members,” Hilliard said.
The six suspects, aged between 16 and 20 years old, thought to be involved in the July 2 shooting at the Oglethorpe Mall, were charged with unlawful gang activity in early October.
Five suspects are being tried as adults for the incident that resulted in the death of mall patron Olislene ‘Tina’ Smith who the prosecution argues had heart issues that were excaterbated by the shooting incident.
“I hope it sends a message that is why these kinds of cases are so critically important and critical to the issue of public safety. This is not just young kids beefing in the street. Lives are at danger and at risk, and everybody’s life was at danger and at risk on July 2,” Chatham County District Attorney Shalena Jones said at a press conference in late August.
A grand jury found probable cause to charge Franklin James, 16, Dahmil Johnson, 16, Royce Haynes, 17, Jonathan Jones, 20, Theron Robbins, 20, and Aujawan Hymon, 20.
“It’s about grabbing headlines or grabbing money. Is it actually going to change anything? No. I can tell you right now it’s overcharged,” Hilliard said.
Ansley Franco is a reporter with the Savannah Morning News, covering public safety and general assignments. You can reach her at AFranco@gannett.com.
Georgia baseball will resume its NCAA Athens Regional game with Long Island at 9 a.m. on Saturday, May 29, after persistent rain—heavy at times—forced the suspension of the game.
The Bulldogs have a commanding 15-1 lead with nobody out in the bottom of the sixth.
The teams and some fans waited out a delay that started 7:14 p.m.
The game was suspended officially at 9:06 p.m. Long Island players were already grabbing their equipment in the dugout to depart for the team hotel before then.
The winner of Georgia-LIU will play No. 3 seed Liberty Saturday in the double-elimination tournament in a game scheduled for 5 p.m.
The loser will play No. 2 seed Boston College at noon.
The No. 3 national seed Bulldogs hit six homers before the game was delayed due to heavy rain.
There was a 53 percent chance of rain at 9 a.m. Saturday, according to weather.com, decreasing to 17 percent at 11 a.m., but there’s a threat of storms in the afternoon.
The Georgia Public Service Commission this week approved a plan expected to reduce utility bills for Georgia Power customers by a few dollars a month.
The commission said the change will generate about $285 million in total annual savings for Georgia Power customers, or roughly $50 per year — about $4.04 per month — for the average residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt-hours a month.
The Georgia PSC voted Thursday to lower overall rates as part of the approved plan.
Georgia Power Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer Tyler Cook said the decision will provide “real savings for Georgia families and businesses as the heat of summer begins and energy use increases.”
“At Georgia Power, our teams work every day to run our business efficiently and keep reliable and affordable energy flowing to our customers,” Cook said.
Cook said the outcome followed months of work between Georgia Power and PSC staff, including reviews, public hearings and input from residents and intervenors.
The approved plan is tied to a stipulated agreement reached earlier this month involving two cases filed with the PSC in February, the Fuel Cost Recovery case and the Storm Cost Recovery case. Those cases addressed recovering fuel costs used to generate electricity and expenses tied to restoring power after storms.
Georgia Power said its rates remain, on average, about 15% below the national average and that it is still on track to provide additional annual savings of about $102 per year for typical residential customers beginning in 2029.
ATLANTA – The Georgia Public Service Commission approved a stipulated agreement on Thursday to lower utility rates for Georgia Power customers starting June 1.
The regulatory body voted to pass the deal without changes, establishing how the utility can bill for fuel costs and storm damage restoration expenses.
State regulators approve rate cuts
What we know:
The Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) voted 3-2 to reject several utility cost amendments before ultimately passing the overall deal. Under the approved agreement, a typical residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt-hours per month will see monthly bills decrease by roughly $4.03 to $4.04. Total annual savings across all 2.8 million Georgia Power customers are projected to reach approximately $285 million.
The deal reduces how much money the utility can recover from its customer base for storm expenses by nearly 60%, dropping the revenue requirement from $270 million down to $109 million. The agreement also extends the amortization of storm recovery costs, largely tied to Hurricane Helene in 2024, to 67 months, caps natural gas advance purchases at 20% over a 36-month window, and cuts $13 million from the company’s original fuel recovery estimates.
Accountability questions remain unresolved
What we don’t know:
While the PSC agreed to launch a separate investigation into how fuel costs are allocated, officials have not yet confirmed how much large industrial operations will be forced to pay in future rate cases. Consumer advocacy groups argue that massive data center companies are driving up fuel costs for everyday ratepayers without paying for the infrastructure upgrades they require. Critics note that it remains unclear if a future utility asset structure will successfully shift financial burdens away from residential homes.
The Source: The information in this story was gathered from official press releases issued by the Georgia Public Service Commission and Georgia Power, as well as previous FOX 5 Atlanta reporting.
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