CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — U.S. House members visited North Carolina's largest city on Monday to hear from family members of violent-crime victims who pleaded for tougher criminal justice policies in the wake of last month's stabbing death of a Ukrainian refugee on a Charlotte commuter train.
A judiciary subcommittee meeting convened in Charlotte to listen to many speakers who described local court systems in North Carolina and South Carolina that they say have failed to protect the public and keep defendants in jail while awaiting trials.
The meeting was prompted by the Aug. 22 stabbing death of Iryna Zarutska on a light rail car and the resulting apprehension of a suspect who had been previously arrested more than a dozen times, according to court records.
“The same system that failed Mary failed Iryna. Our hearts are broken for her family and her friends and we grieve with them,” Mia Alderman, the grandmother of 2020 murder victim 20-year-old Mary Santina Collins in Charlotte, told panelists. Alderman said defendants in her granddaughter's case still haven't been tried: “We need accountability. We need reform. We need to ensure that those accused of heinous crimes are swiftly prosecuted.”
A magistrate had allowed the commuter train defendant, Decarlos Brown Jr., to be released on a misdemeanor charge in January on a written promise to appear, without any bond. Now Brown is jailed after being charged with both first-degree murder in state court and a federal count in connection with Zarutska’s death. Both crimes can be punishable by the death penalty.
Public outrage intensified with the release of security video showing the attack, leading to accusations from Republicans all the way to President Donald Trump that policies by Democratic leaders in Charlotte and statewide are more focused on helping criminals than victims. Democratic committee members argued that Republicans are the ones who have reduced crime-control funds or failed to provide funding for more district attorneys and mental health services. Brown’s mother told media outlets that her son has been diagnosed with schizophrenia.
“The hearing for me is not really about public safety,” Democratic Rep. Alma Adams, who represents most of Charlotte. “It’s about my colleagues trying to paint Democrats as soft on crime — and we're not — and engaging in political theater, probably to score some headlines.”
Dena King, a former U.S. attorney for western North Carolina during Joe Biden's administration, testified that Mecklenburg County, which includes Charlotte, needs dozens of additional prosecutors to serve effectively a county of 1.2 million people. And a crime data analyst said that rates of murder and violent crime are falling nationwide and in Charlotte after increases early in the 2020s.
Republicans, in turn, blasted Democratic members, saying additional funding alone wouldn't have prevented the deaths of Zarutska or the other homicide victims highlighted Monday. And they attempted to question the crime figures as misleading.
“This is not time for politics. This is not time for any race. It’s not time of any party. It’s about a time of justice,” said GOP Rep. Ralph Norman of South Carolina, representing in part Charlotte's suburbs. He spoke while holding a poster of a screenshot of the video showing Zarutska and her attacker. Adams protested Norman's use of the placard.
In response to Zarutska's death, the Republican-controlled North Carolina legislature last week approved a criminal justice package that would bar cashless bail in many circumstances, limit the discretion magistrates and judges have in making pretrial release decisions and seek to ensure more defendants undergo mental health evaluations. The bill now sits on Democratic Gov. Josh Stein's desk for his consideration.
Committee Republicans also cited the need for more restrictive bail policies for magistrates and aggressive prosecutors not willing to drop charges for violent crimes.
Another speaker, Steve Federico, from suburban Charlotte, demanded justice for his 22-year-old daughter, Logan, who was shot to death in May at a home in Columbia, South Carolina, while visiting friends. The suspect charged in her killing had faced nearly 40 charges within the last decade, WIS-TV reported.
“I'’m not going to be quiet until somebody helps. Logan deserves to be heard," Steve Federico told the representatives. “Everyone on this panel deserves to be heard. And we will — trust me.”
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Robertson reported from Raleigh, North Carolina.