(The Center Square) – Iryna’s Law, removing judicial hurdles for the death penalty, finished swift passage in the General Assembly on Tuesday evening and now awaits a decision from first-term Democratic Gov. Josh Stein.
The legislation will stop cashless bail for some charges; removes broad discretion of magistrates; and makes it more difficult for repeat offenders to get out of jail. There is a new category of “violent offenses” that require certain conditions for pretrial release, inclusive of GPS monitoring.
Stein was presented the bill same day, which counts as Day 0 toward the 10 days he’s given to sign, veto or allow to become law without his signature. His deadline is Oct. 3.
Rep. Tricia Cotham, R-Mecklenburg, is credited with the legislation adding 10 additional full-time assistant district attorneys.
“My Democratic colleagues talk a lot about ‘mercy’ and ‘kindness,’” said Rep. Brenden Jones, R-Columbus. “But where was the kindness for Iryna? Where was the mercy in letting a 14-time repeat offender roam free, only to end her life? This isn’t compassion. It’s chaos, and I am standing against it.”
Seventeen Democrats joined all the Republicans voting for 81-31 passage of Iryna’s Law, known also as House Bill 307.
The Democrats on record in support included Reps. Kanika Brown of Forsyth County; Terry Brown, Laura Budd, Beth Helfrich, Brandon Lofton, Carolyn Logan, Nasif Majeed of Mecklenburg County; Bryan Cohn of Granville County; Ya Liu and Tim Longest of Wake County; Garland Pierce of Scotland County; Rodney Pierce of Halifax County; Dante Pittman of Wilson County; Lindsey Prather and Brian Turner of Buncombe County; Robert Reives of Chartham County; and Charles Smith of Cumberland County.
The death penalty is not prohibited in North Carolina, though the last was Aug. 18, 2006. Samuel Flippen was executed by legal injection following his conviction for murder of his stepdaughter. The unwritten moratorium has existed because of litigation on fairness and methods.
Iryna Zarutska, 23, was killed while aboard the Lynx Blue Line light rail train about 10 p.m. Aug. 22 alongside Camden Road near the East/West station, according to the Charlotte Area Transit System video. Decarlos Brown Jr., arrested a 15th time in as many years, is charged with first-degree murder on the state level and charged on the federal level with committing an act causing death on a mass transportation system.
While in the local news immediately, the story went viral when video was released by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police from cameras aboard the train.
