North Carolina Senate Republicans passed a bill called Iryna’s Law in honor of the Ukrainian refugee brutally murdered on a Charlotte light rail train last month, which proposes removing cashless bail for violent offenders among other changes to the state’s criminal justice system.
Iryna Zarutska, 23, was stabbed to death Aug. 22 as she took the city’s Blue Lynx Line train home from her job at a local pizza shop. Cops arrested Decarlos Brown Jr., a deranged homeless man with a lengthy rap sheet, on a nearby station platform and have charged him with murder.
Brown, 34, a schizophrenic who was arrested at least 14 times prior to Zarutska’s killing, was free to roam the streets following a January arrest for a bogus 911 call on a “written promise” he would return for his next court date.
The vicious, senseless crime sparked a nationwide debate on cashless bail reform and rider safety on public transit.
Just last week Sens. Tim Scott (R-SC) and Thom Tillis (R-NC) introduced a bill that would establish a federal task force to address violence on public transit and boost reporting of those incidents to Congress.
“Every American deserves to feel safe traveling to work, school, or anywhere else on public transit. No one should ever fear for their life while trying to go to school or to and from work,” said Scott, who chairs the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee.
In the Tarheel State, House Bill 307 would modify current state law as it relates to pretrial release conditions for suspects “charged with a violent offense.”
Among other changes, the bill would get rid of cashless bail and add an “aggravated sentencing factor” for crimes committed against public transportation passengers.
The bill also includes an amendment that would “seek to revive the death penalty” in the state, which has had a de facto moratorium on capital punishment in place since 2006.
The Senate passed the bill Monday night and the Republican-led House is expected to take up discussion Tuesday.
“For nearly two decades, judicial and administrative roadblocks have stopped true justice for victims, and it’s time for that to end,” North Carolina Senate Leader Phil Berger said on X.
In a follow-up post, Berger said Senate Democrats voted against the amendment to explore bringing back the death penalty and stormed out of the session “refusing to vote” on the bill.
One Dem, Mecklenburg County Sen. Mujtaba Mohammed, slammed the bill during the Senate judiciary meeting, claiming it “exploits grief for headlines, clicks and votes.”
Brown was charged with committing an act causing death on a mass transportation system, which could make him eligible for the death penalty, the Justice Department said.
President Trump, enraged by Zarutska’s savage murder, blasted Decarlos on Truth Social Sept. 10 as an “ANIMAL” and called for him to be put to death. “There can be no other option!!!” he wrote.
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