Jaleeyah Tune's family is hoping that legislation bearing the late Goldsboro teenager's name prevents other kids from being shot and killed in acts of gang violence.
House Bill 1173, which is set to be heard in a House Judiciary committee on Tuesday, makes a number of tweaks to the rules around gang activity in North Carolina.
Chief among those for Jaleeyah's family are changes that would make it a Class H felony for anyone who a court has identified as a gang member to possess a firearm; a Class G felony to give or sell a gun to someone who the seller has reason to believes belongs to a gang; and a Class G felony for a gang member to give or sell a gun to a juvenile if the older person has reason to believe the younger one plans to use it in a crime.
"It's hard to prevent people from doing bad things. But when those people do bad things, we should be able to prosecute them to the full extent of the law and nail them with every single charge that we possibly could. And when you've got older people taking advantage of loopholes in the law and having young people do the dirty work, we need to be able to go after all of them," Rep. John Bell, R-Wayne, one of the bill's primary sponsors, told reporters after a press conference last Friday.
The bill also aims to tweak sentencing guidelines, saying that if a judge finds someone guilty of committing a felony as part of gang activity, the sentence should be two classes higher than it would be otherwise. That means longer prison sentences for most crimes if prosecutors can prove they're connected to a criminal gang.
Jaleeyah Tune was shot and killed the week before Christmas. J'Sheeyah Tune, her sister, told ABC 11 the girls were walking to get something to eat when a group of boys emerged from some bushes and started firing.
Her friends and family called Jaleeyah "LeeLee." Her obituary describes a girl "known for her bubbly personality and her strong opinion" who loved cheerleading and posting videos of dances on TikTok.
Whitney Brown-Tune, Jaleeyah's mother, approached Bell about enacting legislation in her late daughter's name.
Speaking at a press conference Friday, Brown-Tune said, "(Jaleeyah) should still be here. She should still be laughing, going to school, growing up, living life."
The goal of the bill, Brown-Tune said, is to give prosecutors and communities stronger tools to protect other children.
"This bill is not just a paper to me. This is my child's name, this is my pain, this is my fight and this is my purpose to LeeLee that I will keep speaking for her," Brown-Tune said.
Shalanda Tune, Jaleeyah's aunt, noted that North Carolina laws make it illegal to own or be in possession of a handgun until someone turns 21 years old. Goldsboro police have charged a trio of teenagers in connection with Jaleeyah's killing. The oldest of them was 16 years old when it happened.
"At that age, there's no reason why you should have a gun. You're not getting guns from the store, it has to be coming from somebody older... If there's no real punishment for these kids being able to have these guns, it's going to continue," Tune said.
'Real teeth' in NC gang law
Bell said he's worked with Senate Judiciary Chair Buck Newton, R-Wilson; the N.C. Conference of District Attorneys and the N.C. State Bureau of Investigation to figure out what changes to the state's gang laws would reduce violence.
Chuck Spahos, the Conference of District Attorneys' general counsel, said Friday that the organization supports House Bill 1173.
"From this loss, hopefully some good can come, and some badly needed tweaks to existing law and some enhancements in existing law can put some real teeth in North Carolina's gang suppression statute," Spahos said.
North Carolina passed its gang suppression law in 2008. Since then, it has required prosecutors to prove that a group of three more people has criminal activity "as one of its primary purposes" to be classified as a gang.
Jaleeyah's Law proposes striking that primary purpose language, instead just saying that any group of three or more people that engages in criminal activity and shares common identifiers or customs can be classified as a gang.
The bill would also loosen what it takes to be defined as a gang leader or gang member.
For a person to be classified as a gang leader, prosecutors would need to prove they meet one criteria instead of two from a five-item list that includes recruiting for a gang, having decision-making authority and planning gang activity, among others.
Prosecutors would need to prove that an alleged gang member meets two criteria from a nine-item list instead of three. Among other criteria, that list includes being identified as a gang member by a "reliable source" or adopting gang customs like language, style of dress or tattoos.
"The North Carolina Gang Suppression Act ... requires near-impossible evidence to prove criminal gang activity, leadership and membership. This bill puts realistic definitions in place," Bell said.
House Bill 1173 is set to appear before the House Judiciary 2 Committee at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday.
