Republicans are blaming Democrats for Charlotte transit killing. Here are the facts | Opinion

Iryna Zarutska’s young life should not have ended in an inexplicable act of brutal violence on a Charlotte transit train. The crime was abhorrent, but so is the Republican response to politicize her killing and blame “soft on crime” Democrats.

Within hours of release of the video showing the shocking attack, Congressman Tim Moore demanded a “Judge” be fired and held personally liable for a cashless bail system. President Donald Trump called for the execution of the “ANIMAL.” The NCGOP website blamed two Democrat governors and a N.C. justice. House Speaker Destin Hall declared that Democrats’ soft-on-crime policies caused this tragedy, and a Charlotte representative proclaimed Democrats are “pro-criminal.”

Then state Sen. Phil Berger went so far to claim that free bus fares in Charlotte were responsible for this crime.

For my eighteen years as a judge, I analyzed a case based on the facts. The truth of this case is getting lost in the storm of inflammatory rhetoric, political buzzwords and emotional provocation.

Contrary to Speaker Hall’s assertion that the defendant was arrested in January for a serious charge, the fact is he was arrested for misuse of the 911 system, a misdemeanor charge. It was not a violent offense.

Despite the Republicans’ demands that the magistrate, who released the suspected killer, DeCarlos Brown Jr., after this misdemeanor charge, should be fired, the magistrate followed the law as written. She did nothing outside of what the statute requires. North Carolina’s laws allow for orders to appear in court for nonviolent misdemeanors and a cash bond for more serious offenses. The assigned magistrate had every right to order him to appear in court without posting a bond as he was charged with a nonviolent offense and had no convictions in the prior five years.

Even if the magistrate had ordered a $1 million cash bond, the maximum sentence was 120 days. He would have been released in April, four months before this homicide. The magistrate, nor any other person, had any idea what would transpire eight months later.

This person had a history of mental illness, as disclosed by his family. He had received some mental health services and medications and was released from a hospital. There is a severe shortage of inpatient mental health services in North Carolina.

Senator Berger has created a false narrative that Democratic policies “directly contributed” to this heinous crime. Berger referenced the 2020 Task Force for Racial Equity in Criminal Justice as one of the “atrocious policies pushed by out-of-touch politicians and court officials” that prioritize a “perverted vision” of equity and social justice.

The 2020 racial equity task force was created to investigate racial inequities in the criminal justice system. I was proud to be a member of this task force, along with more than 30 criminal justice professionals, including prosecutors, judges, defense attorneys, local officials, law enforcement leaders and victim rights advocates.. Public hearings were conducted and expert witnesses presented factual data. None of the recommendations were “soft on crime.” This task force would not be the subject of any attention in this case if it was not established by then-Gov. Roy Cooper and co-chaired by Democrats Josh Stein and Anita Earls.

Implementation for most of the recommendations required legislative action, which the Republican-controlled legislature did not consider, including increasing mental health treatment and enhancing accountability. It is impossible for this senseless death to be a “direct result” of these recommendations that never became law.

Republicans have been in control of all legislation and passage of criminal laws since 2011. They have also controlled the judiciary since 2023. If they would like to call this a policy failure, it is nonsensical for them to blame Democrats when they have held the power of policy for more than a decade.

In the aftermath of this tragedy, focus on facts, not politics. We must honor Iryna while demanding that lawmakers adequately fund mental health treatment and beds. Provide funding for more security on public transit. Improve our involuntary commitment procedures. Those are real solutions. Political grandstanding is not.

Rep. Marcia Morey represents state House District 30 and was a state district court judge in Durham for 18 years and chief district court judge for five years.