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On Friday, North Carolina’s Democratic Governor, Josh Stein, signed “Iryna’s Law,” a criminal justice measure named in honor of the young Ukrainian refugee who was senselessly murdered on a Charlotte light-rail commuter train. The new law, among other things, eliminates cashless bail for most violent offenders and streamlines the death penalty process.
The measure was passed by an “overwhelming” vote of NC’s majority Republican legislature.
The law will lower hurdles for the death penalty in North Carolina by removing prior barriers that barred executions and will also require the swift review of death penalty appeals filed within two years.
Any appeal or motion filed more than two years ago must be scheduled for hearing by December 2026, and the hearing must take place by December 2027, according to the legislative text.
Under the new law, certain violent offenders would be denied cashless bail and limits judges authority over pretrial release while requiring more defendants to undergo mental health evaluations. The evaluations could become mandatory if a defendant charged with a violent offense has been involuntarily committed within the past three years, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
The bill, while passed with the aforementioned majority, was not without its detractors – nor was the rhetoric used in discussing the measure.
Durham Rep. Marcia Morey is criticizing Rep. Tricia Cotham for calling DeCarlos Brown, the man charged with stabbing Iryna Zarutska, a monster. #ncpol
— Joe Bruno (@JoeBrunoWSOC9) September 23, 2025
Now, consider that for a moment. Yes, DeCarlos Brown is entitled to a presumption of innocence under the law, to due process; we’re not barbarians. But many of us saw that horrible video. We saw what he did to an innocent girl who was just going home from work. We saw the look of horror and shock on Iryna’s face as she looked up at her murderer – and saw the drops of her blood falling from his knife as he walked away, as Iryna bled out on the seat, collapsing finally to the floor.
Yes, DeCarlos Brown is a monster. There’s just no other word for it.
What’s more, he is a monster who never should have been walking around loose.
The suspect in Zarutska’s killing, DeCarlos Brown Jr., was arrested several times prior to the stabbing onboard the Charlotte train. Police said he suffered from mental health issues, for which he’d been admitted to the hospital.
Brown, who now faces federal and state charges, could receive the death penalty if convicted.
“House Bill 307, or ‘Iryna’s Law,’ 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 and why I have signed it into law,” Stein said in a video discussing the bill signing.
It’s the least that the state could have done in response to this atrocity.
The judge who let DeCarlos Brown walk free is under some serious scrutiny, too, as my colleague Becky Noble pointed out:
Becky writes:
More than 11,000 signatures have been collected demanding the removal of North Carolina Magistrate Judge Teresa Stokes. Despite Brown being a mentally ill repeat offender with 14 prior convictions, Stokes released him without bail in January after he was arrested for abusing the 911 system. Brown’s release was also contingent upon a “written promise” that he would return for a court hearing.
North Carolina Democrats opposed this bill, in large part because of its death penalty provisions, but some no doubt objected to the cashless bail restrictions. That’s too bad. If this incident has taught us nothing else, it is that there are evil people among us and that sometimes the only recourse with these people is to put them in cages. And if DeCarlos Brown had been in a cage, Iryna Zarutska would be alive today, probably with no more worries than her job at a Charlotte pizza joint. This new law won’t bring her back, but at least, perhaps, it will mean that her death was not for nothing.
