In response to the stabbing death of a Ukrainian refugee on Charlotte’s light rail system, the North Carolina legislature gave final approval Tuesday to a criminal justice package that limits bail and seeks to ensure more defendants undergo mental health evaluations.
The Republican-penned bill, called “Iryna’s Law,” could also help restart executions in the state.
The House voted 81-31 to accept the omnibus measure passed by the Senate on Monday, sending it next to Democratic Gov. Josh Stein. The governor, a former attorney general, has said he supports some pretrial reforms following the fatal Aug. 22 attack on 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether Stein would sign the bill into law or veto it. A Stein spokesperson said he was reviewing the measure.
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Much of the bill focuses on eliminating cashless bail for many crimes and limiting the discretion that magistrates and judges have in making pretrial release decisions.
“When we have magistrates who are asleep at the wheel, like this one that obviously was, then we gotta make a change,” North Carolina Speaker of the House Rep. Destin Hall said, CBS affiliate WBTV reported.
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The bill also lays out when offenders should be examined for possible involuntary commitment.
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Several House Democrats took issue with the soft-on-crime label, pointing out that Republicans have controlled the General Assembly for over a decade. They said the bill falls well short in providing mental health services that advocates say could stop crimes before they occur, as well as funds to hire additional police officers and crisis responders and to house defendants being held for behavioral problems.
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Unlike Monday’s party-line Senate vote, over one-third of House Democrats present joined all Republicans in voting for the bill Tuesday. The margins signal a Stein veto could be overridden.
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The bill initially contained language that would require certain appeals for death-row inmates be heard and reviewed by courts by the end of 2027. More than 120 people are on death row in North Carolina, but an execution hasn’t been carried out since 2006.
But an amendment from powerful Senate leader Phil Berger would direct the state Adult Correction Department secretary to find another form of execution if lethal injection — currently the state’s sole method — is declared unconstitutional or is “not available,” potentially if the drugs can’t be accessed.
“For nearly two decades, judicial and administrative roadblocks have stopped true justice for victims, and it’s time for that to end,” Berger said in a post shared on X.
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