(Headline USA) North Carolina’s Democratic governor signed into law on Friday a criminal justice measure that the state’s Republican-controlled legislature approved in response to the stabbing death of a Ukrainian refugee on a Charlotte commuter train, even while opposing provisions within or wishing for others left out.
Gov. Josh Stein said he signed the bill because it “alerts the judiciary to take a special look at people who may pose unusual risks of violence before determining their bail. That’s a good thing.”
The new law bars cashless bail for certain violent crimes and for many repeat offenders. It also limits the discretion magistrates and judges have in making pretrial release decisions, gives the state chief justice the ability to suspend magistrates and seeks to ensure more defendants undergo mental health evaluations.
“I’m troubled by its lack of ambition or vision,” Stein said during a short video statement. “It simply does not do enough to keep you safe.”
Stein accepted the measure even as Republican lawmakers, including President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance, have blamed Democratic leaders in Charlotte and statewide for soft-on-crime policies they allege allowed the suspect in Iryna Zarutska ’s Aug. 22 death to stay out of custody. The outrage intensified with the release of security video showing the attack.
“Finally, we are getting dangerous criminals off our streets so we can make sure no one else suffers the heartbreak that Iryna Zarutska’s family endured,” Charlotte-area Republican state Rep. Tricia Cotham, who helped shepherd the legislation, said in a news release.
Decarlos Brown Jr., the man accused in Zarutska’s death, has been arrested more than a dozen other times and previously served more than five years on a violent robbery count, according to court records.
A magistrate allowed Brown to be released on a misdemeanor charge in January on a written promise to appear, without any bond. Brown was arrested at that time after repeatedly calling 911 from a hospital, complaining that someone was trying to control him with a foreign substance. He is now charged with both first-degree murder in state court and a federal count in connection with Zarutska’s death. Both crimes can be punishable by the death penalty.
The new law requires certain appeals for death-row inmates to be heard and reviewed by courts by the end of 2027 and opens the door to using other capital punishment methods — perhaps firing squads — should a court declare lethal injection unconstitutional or if it’s “not available,” because the drugs can’t be accessed.
Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press.
