The fatal stabbing of a 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee on Charlotte’s light rail system is reshaping North Carolina’s criminal justice laws.
On Tuesday, state lawmakers gave final approval to “Iryna’s Law,” a sweeping Republican-backed criminal justice package aimed at tightening bail rules, mandating more mental health evaluations for defendants, and even reopening the door for executions after nearly two decades.
The measure is named after Iryna Zarutska, who was killed on August 22 in a brutal attack caught on surveillance video.
In the horrific footage, Zarutska boards a light rail car and takes a seat. Four minutes later, prosecutors say, fellow passenger Decarlos Brown Jr. pulled out a knife and stabbed her three times from behind.
Brown had been arrested more than a dozen times before but was released earlier this year on a misdemeanor charge without bond. He now faces both state and federal murder charges, each carrying the possibility of the death penalty.
“Brown should have never been allowed out of the jail,” Charlotte-area Republican Rep. Tricia Cotham said during two hours of House debate. “The catch-and-release practices for violent offenders will end today with your support. This heinous act was preventable.”
The House approved the bill 81-31, following the Senate’s passage on Monday. It now heads to Democratic Gov. Josh Stein, who has previously voiced support for pretrial reform but has not said whether he will sign or veto this legislation.
Bail reform and mental health
A key piece of “Iryna’s Law” eliminates cashless bail for many crimes and limits the discretion magistrates and judges hold in granting pretrial release.
“When we have magistrates who are asleep at the wheel, like this one that obviously was, then we gotta make a change,” said House Speaker Rep. Destin Hall, according to WBTV.
But Charlotte defense attorney Tim Emry argued that magistrates followed the law as written.
“The magistrate’s not asleep at the wheel,” Emry told WBTV. “It would be totally unconstitutional for the magistrate to hold someone without bond on a low-level misdemeanor charge.”
The legislation also expands when offenders should be examined for possible involuntary mental health commitment. Brown’s mother has said her son was diagnosed with schizophrenia.
Democrats argued the bill falls short of addressing underlying problems, such as lack of mental health resources and underfunded law enforcement.
“Tough on crime doesn’t only mean let’s pay attention to punishment after the fact,” said Democratic Rep. Marcia Morey of Durham, a former judge. “We grieve the murder. It was senseless, it was horrible. But what you are voting on today does nothing to take it back or would have prevented it. Let’s get smart on crime.”
More than a third of House Democrats joined Republicans in supporting the bill, suggesting Stein’s veto, if issued, could be overridden.
Bill could revive executions in North Carolina
The legislation also touches a politically charged issue: the death penalty.
Originally, it required courts to resolve certain death row appeals by 2027. But Senate leader Phil Berger added language directing the state to find an alternative execution method if lethal injection – the only one currently allowed – becomes unconstitutional or unavailable.
More than 120 people are on death row in the state, but an execution hasn’t been carried out since 2006, according to CBS.
“For nearly two decades, judicial and administrative roadblocks have stopped true justice for victims, and it’s time for that to end,” Berger said in a statement.
That could open the door to methods such as the firing squad, used in neighboring South Carolina this year, or the electric chair.
Democrats condemned the change, calling it an opportunistic move to push “barbaric” punishments.
“No matter what you think about the death penalty more generally, there’s just no question that these methods are risky and have the potential to be extremely gruesome,” said Rep. Vernetta Alston, a Durham Democrat who once represented death-row inmates in appeals.
Authorities have not said what led to the shocking stabbing of Zarutska.
A prayer vigil for Zarutska was held on Monday at the East/West Boulevard Rail Station in South End, the place where she was murdered.
A fundraiser has raised $462,000 as of Wednesday morning.
