NC: NC Gov. Josh Stein signs crime bill named for Iryna Zarutska into law

Democratic Gov. Josh Stein signed into law on Friday a wide-ranging crime bill that GOP lawmakers put together after the fatal stabbing on board a light rail train in Charlotte in August.

Stein announced his decision in a three-and-half-minute video statement released Friday afternoon, on the last day he had to act on the bill before it would become law automatically.

In the video, Stein said he considered whether the law would “make people safer.” He praised the bill for directing the state’s judges and magistrates to “take a special look at people who may pose unusual risks of violence before determining their bail.” “That’s a good thing, and why I have signed it into law,” Stein said.

At the same time, Stein was critical of the bill for not focusing enough “on the threat that people pose, instead of their ability to post bail.” He also said it was “alarming” that Republican lawmakers added a late amendment to the bill that directs prison officials to implement alternative execution methods. Stein said that could open the door to “execution by firing squad in North Carolina.”

Although the bill doesn’t specifically authorize any particular execution methods, it requires the Department of Adult Correction to use a method used in another state if North Carolina’s only legal method on the books right now, lethal injection, is ruled by courts to be unconstitutional, or is otherwise unable to be administered.

Executions have been paused in North Carolina since 2006 due to ongoing legal challenges over the use of lethal injection and the specific protocol that was being followed at the time, and separately, claims of racial bias in capital trials and sentencing.

The firing squad was used in South Carolina in March for the first time nationwide since 2010. It was also proposed as a specific method the state could consider in a separate bill put forward by House Republicans earlier this year, that went nowhere.

Stein said the notion of using a firing squad to carry out an execution is “barbaric.” He pledged: “There will be no firing squads in North Carolina during my time as governor.”

The bill, which Republican lawmakers named Iryna’s Law in honor of Iryna Zarutska, the 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee who died after she was stabbed on the Lynx Blue Line on Aug. 22, makes a number of changes to the state’s criminal laws.

Among other things, House Bill 307 includes stricter bail rules for a broad category of violent offenses, a new protocol for judges and magistrates to follow in ordering mental health evaluations if a defendant has been involuntarily committed or is suspected to have mental health issues, and funding for additional prosecutors in Mecklenburg County.

Democrats criticized the GOP for amending the bill to include the provision seeking to restart executions in a bill dedicated to Zarutska, calling it “exploitative” and “cynical.” Many Democrats in the Senate, as a result, walked out of the vote and refused to vote on the bill. But while the vote in the Senate fell along party lines, more than a third of House Democrats joined the GOP in supporting the bill in the lower chamber.

Rep. Tricia Cotham, a Mecklenburg County Republican who championed the bill on the House floor, celebrated Stein’s decision to sign the bill into law on Friday.

In a statement, Cotham said she was “thrilled that Iryna’s Law is now a reality in North Carolina.”

“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,” Cotham said. “I’m especially proud that, through our efforts, this law provides additional prosecutors for Mecklenburg County, giving our local law enforcement the tools they need to fight violent crime.”

Stein urges more action on public safety and mental health

Stein went on to say on Friday that he was “troubled” by the bill’s “lack of ambition or vision.” He said it “simply does not do enough to keep you safe.”

He called on the General Assembly, which is currently adjourned amid stalled budget talks between House and Senate Republicans, to come back to Raleigh and take up and pass his own public safety proposal, which he said calls for more police officers and “violence prevention measures” focused on “keeping kids out of gangs and getting people off drugs.”

In addition to the fatal stabbing of Zarutska, Stein also mentioned last week’s mass shooting in Southport. He reiterated his call for gun safety measures that have been repeatedly introduced by Democrats in the legislature, like comprehensive background checks and red flag laws.

Stein also said lawmakers need to take more action to improve the state’s mental health care system. He acknowledged that there has been bipartisan progress on the issue of mental health treatment, but said “we all know that it’s not enough.” He called on lawmakers to “fully fund Medicaid” when they return later this month.

Beyond that, Stein said, “let’s fix our mental health care system for the long haul to help people, and to keep us all safe.”

“It’s time to get real about the causes of violence, and to take meaningful action to address them,” Stein said. “Let’s roll up our sleeves, actually tackle tough issues head on, and put in place effective solutions to make North Carolina families safer.

Lawmakers are currently scheduled to return for a few days of expected voting sessions during the week of Oct. 20.

Fatal stabbing drew national attention

Zarutska’s killing became a national story after the Charlotte Area Transit System released gruesome surveillance footage of the attack in response to public records requests by news outlets.

State and federal prosecutors charged 34-year-old DeCarlos Brown Jr. in the stabbing. Brown, who had a series of convictions on his record and served more than five years in state prison for armed robbery, was twice arrested in 2024 for the misdemeanor charge of misusing the 911 system.

His mother told The Charlotte Observer that he had been diagnosed with schizophrenia. She said she had tried to get him involuntarily committed, but the mental hospital she went to said they couldn’t take him in unless he said he would kill himself, or someone else.

In January, he was arrested and charged with that offense again when he asked police to investigate a “man-made” material he said controlled when he ate, walked and talked. Court records show that Magistrate Teresa Stokes released Brown on Jan. 19, the same day he was arrested, on a written promise to appear, the Charlotte Observer previously reported.

The charge was still pending against Brown when he boarded the light rail on Aug. 22. Less than a month earlier, a judge had ordered his mental capacity to be evaluated.

What is in Iryna’s Law

The first indication that GOP lawmakers were planning to introduce a new crime bill in light of Zarutska’s death came on Sept. 8, when a spokeswoman for House Speaker Destin Hall said he was exploring “potential legislative action” looking at the rules and conditions for pre-trial release, and ways to hold magistrates accountable for releasing offenders without a thorough review of their history.

The following week, Hall and Senate leader Phil Berger said at a news conference that GOP lawmakers were working on a bill that would likely include provisions to require secured bond for violent criminals, and restart the death penalty in North Carolina.

The bill, which House and Senate Republicans negotiated among themselves before releasing publicly, was unveiled on Sept. 21. It was passed by the Senate on Sept. 22 in a 28-8 vote, and by the House on Sept. 23, where lawmakers voted 81-31 to send it to Stein.

HB 307 makes several changes to the state’s criminal laws, including:

• Eliminating written promises to appear, the requirement Brown was released on when he was charged with misusing 911 in January, as a condition for pre-trial release altogether.
• Limiting pre-trial release options for people charged with a broad category of violent offenses to secured bonds and house arrest with electronic monitoring.
• Requiring judges and magistrates to follow a new protocol to order evaluations for possible involuntary commitment for defendants believed to be “a danger to themselves or others.”
• Making a capital felony being committed while a victim was using public transportation an aggravating factor to enable prosecutors to seek the death penalty.
• Directing the N.C. Department of Adult Correction to implement a method of execution used in another state that hasn’t been ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court, if the current method allowed under law in North Carolina (which is lethal injection) has been deemed unconstitutional, or is otherwise unable to be administered.
• Requiring appeals in capital cases that have been filed more than 24 months ago to be heard within the next year, and requiring hearings in such cases to be held in the county where the conviction happened.
• Authorizing the chief justice of the N.C. Supreme Court or the chief district court judge to initiate suspension proceedings against magistrates.

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