{"id":276129,"date":"2025-10-04T03:06:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-04T03:06:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/276129\/"},"modified":"2025-10-04T03:06:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-04T03:06:11","slug":"north-carolina-law-signed-after-ukrainian-refugees-death-on-charlotte-train","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/276129\/","title":{"rendered":"North Carolina law signed after Ukrainian refugee\u2019s death on Charlotte train"},"content":{"rendered":"

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) \u2014 North Carolina\u2019s Democratic governor signed into law on Friday a criminal justice measure<\/a> that the state\u2019s Republican-controlled legislature approved in response to the stabbing death of a Ukrainian refugee<\/a> on a Charlotte commuter train, even while opposing provisions within or wishing for others left out.<\/p>\n

Gov. Josh Stein said he signed the bill because it \u201calerts the judiciary to take a special look at people who may pose unusual risks of violence before determining their bail. That\u2019s a good thing.\u201d <\/p>\n

The new law bars cashless bail for certain violent crimes and for many repeat offenders. It also limits the discretion magistrates and judges have in making pretrial release decisions, gives the state chief justice the ability to suspend magistrates and seeks to ensure more defendants undergo mental health evaluations. <\/p>\n

But Stein criticized parts and said lawmakers had failed in the legislation to approve his public-safety proposals, which included increased pay for law enforcement. He said the measure failed to focus properly \u201con the threat that people pose instead of their ability to post bail.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m troubled by its lack of ambition or vision,\u201d Stein said during a short video statement.<\/a> \u201cIt simply does not do enough to keep you safe.\u201d <\/p>\n

He also blasted a portion of a section that seeks to restart executions in North Carolina, where capital punishment was last carried out in 2006. <\/p>\n

Still, the action by Stein, a former state attorney general, affirms in law reforms demanded by GOP politicians and their allies. Stein had until late Friday to act on the bill, which could have also included vetoing it or letting it become law without his signature.<\/p>\n

Stein accepted the measure even as Republican lawmakers, including President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance, have blamed Democratic leaders in Charlotte and statewide for soft-on-crime policies they allege allowed the suspect in Iryna Zarutska<\/a> \u2019s Aug. 22 death to stay out of custody. The outrage intensified with the release of security video showing the attack.<\/p>\n

Democrats have called the accusations politically motivated<\/a>, with several arguing during debate last week that the legislation not only wouldn\u2019t address the root causes of crime but also lacked funding for more mental health services. While Republicans are one House seat shy of a veto-proof majority at the General Assembly, the bill received bipartisan support in the chamber, making it more likely that any Stein veto could have been overridden. <\/p>\n

\u201cFinally, we are getting dangerous criminals off our streets so we can make sure no one else suffers the heartbreak that Iryna Zarutska\u2019s family endured,\u201d Charlotte-area Republican state Rep. Tricia Cotham, who helped shepherd the legislation, said in a news release. <\/p>\n

Decarlos Brown Jr.<\/a>, the man accused in Zarutska\u2019s death, has been arrested more than a dozen other times and previously served more than five years on a violent robbery count, according to court records. <\/p>\n

A magistrate allowed Brown to be released on a misdemeanor charge in January on a written promise to appear, without any bond. Brown was arrested at that time after repeatedly calling 911 from a hospital, complaining that someone was trying to control him with a foreign substance. He is now charged with both first-degree murder in state court and a federal count<\/a> in connection with Zarutska\u2019s death. Both crimes can be punishable by the death penalty. <\/p>\n

The new law requires certain appeals for death-row inmates<\/a> to be heard and reviewed by courts by the end of 2027 and opens the door to using other capital punishment methods \u2014 perhaps firing squads \u2014 should a court declare lethal injection unconstitutional or if it\u2019s \u201cnot available,\u201d because the drugs can\u2019t be accessed. <\/p>\n

The law doesn\u2019t specifically name firing squads. Still, Stein said Friday \u201cthere will be no firing squads in North Carolina during my time as governor,\u201d calling the idea \u201cbarbaric.\u201d Stein has previously said he supports the death penalty for \u201ctruly heinous crimes,\u201d but had reiterated that the current legal process holding up executions needs to be completed.<\/p>\n

The state NAACP chapter condemned Stein\u2019s bill-signing, saying that he \u201cchose cruelty over justice, and the legislators from both parties who pushed it forward are equally responsible for this shameful failure of leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stein also mentioned last weekend\u2019s shooting<\/a> at a waterfront bar in southeastern North Carolina that left three patrons dead and several injured while calling for more mental health services and efforts to keep guns out of the hands of \u201cdangerous people.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s time to get real about the causes of violence and to take meaningful action to address them,\u201d he said. The legislature is next scheduled in Raleigh on Oct. 20.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) \u2014 North Carolina\u2019s Democratic governor signed into law on Friday a criminal justice measure that…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":276130,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[3881,15331,356,4219,10407,69,57,4221,4228,2066,2931,362,2934,517,521,50,519,80,28897,142795,61,322,3660,67,132,68,8572],"class_list":{"0":"post-276129","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"category-us","9":"tag-ap-top-news","10":"tag-capital-punishment","11":"tag-courts","12":"tag-crime","13":"tag-criminal-punishment","14":"tag-donald-trump","15":"tag-general-news","16":"tag-homicide","17":"tag-indictments","18":"tag-jd-vance","19":"tag-josh-stein","20":"tag-legal-proceedings","21":"tag-legislation","22":"tag-mental-health","23":"tag-nc-state-wire","24":"tag-news","25":"tag-north-carolina","26":"tag-politics","27":"tag-rail-accidents","28":"tag-tricia-cotham","29":"tag-u-s-news","30":"tag-u-s-republican-party","31":"tag-ukraine-government","32":"tag-united-states","33":"tag-unitedstates","34":"tag-us","35":"tag-violence"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115313690900961378","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=276129"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276129\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/276130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=276129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=276129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=276129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}