RALEIGH, N.C. — Democratic Gov. Josh Stein signed into law on Friday a wide-ranging crime bill that GOP lawmakers put together after the fatal stabbing on board a light rail train in Charlotte last month.

The bill, which Republicans named Iryna’s Law in honor of Iryna Zarutska, the 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee who died after she was stabbed on the Lynx Blue Line on Aug. 22, makes a number of changes to the state’s criminal laws.

Among other things, House Bill 307 includes stricter bail rules for a broad category of violent offenses, a new protocol for judges and magistrates to follow in ordering mental health evaluations if a defendant has been involuntarily committed or is suspected to have mental health issues, and funding for additional prosecutors in Mecklenburg County.

The bill also directs prison officials to implement alternative methods of execution used in other states if North Carolina’s only legally allowed method on the books right now, lethal injection, is ruled by courts to be unconstitutional, or is otherwise unable to be administered.

Democrats criticized the GOP for amending the bill to include the provision seeking to restart executions in a bill dedicated to Zarutska, calling it “exploitative” and “cynical.” Many Democrats in the Senate, as a result, walked out and refused to vote on the bill. But while the vote in the Senate fell along party lines, more than a third of House Democrats joined the GOP in supporting the bill in the lower chamber.

Fatal stabbing drew national attention

Zarutska’s killing became a national story after the Charlotte Area Transit System released gruesome surveillance footage of the attack in response to public records requests by news outlets.

State and federal prosecutors charged 34-year-old DeCarlos Brown Jr. in the stabbing. Brown, who had a series of convictions on his record and served more than five years in state prison for armed robbery, was twice arrested in 2024 for the misdemeanor charge of misusing the 911 system.

His mother told The Charlotte Observer that he had been diagnosed with schizophrenia. She said she had tried to get him involuntarily committed, but the mental hospital she went to said they couldn’t take him in unless he said he would kill himself, or someone else.

In January, he was arrested and charged with that offense again when he asked police to investigate a “man-made” material he said controlled when he ate, walked and talked. Court records show that Magistrate Teresa Stokes released Brown on Jan. 19, the same day he was arrested, on a written promise to appear, the Charlotte Observer previously reported.

The charge was still pending against Brown when he boarded the light rail on Aug. 22. Less than a month earlier, a judge had ordered his mental capacity to be evaluated.

What is in Iryna’s Law

The first indication that GOP lawmakers were planning to introduce a new crime bill in light of Zarutska’s death came on Sept. 8, when a spokeswoman for House Speaker Destin Hall said he was exploring “potential legislative action” looking at the rules and conditions for pretrial release, and ways to hold magistrates accountable for releasing offenders without a thorough review of their history.

The following week, Hall and Senate leader Phil Berger said at a news conference that GOP lawmakers were working on a bill that would likely include provisions to require secured bond for violent criminals, and restart the death penalty in North Carolina.

The bill, which House and Senate Republicans negotiated among themselves before releasing publicly, was unveiled on Sept. 21. It was passed by the Senate on Sept. 22 in a 28-8 vote, and by the House on Sept. 23, where lawmakers voted 81-31 to send it to Stein.

HB 307 makes several changes to the state’s criminal laws, including:

—Eliminating written promises to appear, the requirement Brown was released on when he was charged with misusing 911 in January, as a condition for pretrial release altogether.

—Limiting pretrial release options for people charged with a broad category of violent offenses to secured bonds and house arrest with electronic monitoring.

—Requiring judges and magistrates to follow a new protocol to order evaluations for possible involuntary commitment for defendants believed to be “a danger to themselves or others.”

—Making a capital felony being committed while a victim was using public transportation an aggravating factor to enable prosecutors to seek the death penalty.

—Directing the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction to implement a method of execution used in another state that hasn’t been ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court, if the current method allowed under law in North Carolina (which is lethal injection) has been deemed unconstitutional, or is otherwise unable to be administered.

—Requiring appeals in capital cases that have been filed more than 24 months ago to be heard within the next year, and requiring hearings in such cases to be held in the county where the conviction happened.

—Authorizing the chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court or the chief district court judge to initiate suspension proceedings against magistrates.

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