- ‘The judicial system here in Mecklenburg County, I can speak firsthand, is trash, and I'll say it again over and over again, and I'll take the repercussions that come next after me saying that, but the magistrate system here has no idea what they are doing,” a police officer testified at Monday's hearing.
The brutal murder of a young Ukrainian woman in Charlotte set the stage for a tense US House Judiciary Committee field hearing on Victims of Violent Crime Monday, where lawmakers clashed over the causes of rising violent crime. Republicans blasted lenient bail and repeat offenders, while Democrats pressed for more funding for mental health care and local prosecutors, specifically for Mecklenburg County. Most of the state’s congressional delegation was there for the field hearing in Charlotte.
It was scheduled in the wake of the Aug. 22 murder of Iryna Zarutska, a 23-year-old from Ukraine. She was allegedly stabbed in the neck by Decarlos Brown Jr. on Charlotte’s Lynx Blue Line on her way home from work.
Brown, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia, had been previously arrested 14 times, including for felonies. He served five years in prison for robbery with a deadly weapon, got out in 2020, but then was arrested shortly after, charged with assaulting his sister.
In January of 2025, he was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of misusing 911. But he was released by Magistrate Teresa Stokes after he signed a written note promising to appear at his next court hearing.
“Bad leaders let this happen, weak leaders,” said Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-NJ, who led the hearing. “Why is it that some of these leaders show more compassion for criminals but not the victims?…I don’t know why are judges, elected officials, leftist nonprofits, and activist groups doing all they can to make our streets more dangerous?”
Rep. Deborah Ross, D-NC2, said the hearing was “too little too late” and that more should have been done to prevent crime and address the lack of funding for mental health care, funding law enforcement, and other programs, accusing Republicans of wanting to defund the police.
“This is not the Democrats’ fault,” she said. “This is the fault of Congress and our legislature, not doing enough. They want you to believe that being tough on crime and saying law and order is going to solve the problem, and they want to believe that a slogan will make America safe again. But if that is the case, why is Congress cutting aid to local law enforcement by $100 million next year?
“We should seek real solutions to prevent these tragedies and not hide behind empty slogans,” Ross said.
Later in the hearing, she would also pin blame on the North Carolina General Assembly for a lack of funding for the district attorney’s office in Mecklenburg County, which had been cited during the hearing as needing 144 positions. Currently, it has 62 state-allocated positions and 22 additional positions funded by the county and the city, totaling 84.
“If there’s anybody here that believes that simply reaching deeper into their pockets will fix this problem, please leave the collection over here in front of Miss Ross before you leave today,” said Rep. Chuck Edwards, R-NC11.
Rep. Alma Adams, D-NC12, who represents most of Charlotte in Congress, echoed Ross’s point on the need for more funding for mental health treatment. She also said that her Republican colleagues were politicizing the issue.
“I think there’s an eye on this open seat [in Congress] that’s the real prize, and this is why I think we’re here, even though we should be in Washington trying to make sure the government stays open,” Adams said. “But the hearing for me is not really about public safety; it’s about my colleagues trying to paint Democrats as soft on crime, and we’re not, and engaging in political theater.”
Families of victims of violent crime also spoke at the hearing, including Mia Alderman, whose 20-year-old granddaughter, Mary Collins, was murdered in 2020 in Charlotte. She had been bludgeoned in the head and stabbed over 130 times. The case hasn’t gone to trial, and one of the people allegedly involved, America Diehl, has been released on bond, despite violating bond conditions, according to Alderman.
Stephen Federico’s 22-year-old daughter, Logan, of Waxhaw, was murdered in Columbia, South Carolina, in May, allegedly by Alexander Dickey, a man who had previously been arrested 39 times.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer Stephen Campbell, who was one of those injured in a deadly ambush in April 2024 by Terry Clark Hughes Jr., a criminal with a long rap sheet, downplayed the mental health issue and cited the lack of accountability for criminals.
He also noted that in many instances, criminals would be back on the streets before he finished the paperwork and felt that what he did didn’t matter.
‘The judicial system here in Mecklenburg County, I can speak firsthand, is trash, and I’ll say it again over and over again, and I’ll take the repercussions that come next after me saying that. But the magistrate system here has no idea what they are doing,” Campbell said. “This cashless bail system is a joke. I believe in my heart that if you commit a crime against another person violently, you should not have a bond. You should sit in jail until your time comes.”
Michael Woody, chairman of the National Association for Bail Agents, said Zarutska’s murder was a preventable tragedy, saying that unsecured release, like cashless bail, removes accountability.
He also said the policies aren’t just dangerous, they’re also expensive to the taxpayer.
“Mecklenburg County alone has spent $345,000 in local taxpayer funds for any pre-trial staff,” he said. “They’ve wasted over $1.6 million in federal grants and at least $3.3 million in private foundation money. The county now reports that it has spent a total of $3.87 million to put these offenders back on the street with no accountability. That’s over $5 million to operate a system parallel to secure bail, which worked effectively, and cost taxpayers nothing and provided more security for families.”
Jeff Asher, a crime data expert, cited statistics that suggest that violent crime and murders have seen a sharp decline, including in North Carolina and Charlotte, which he said is down 25% this year.
Van Drew, Rep. Brad Knott, R-NC13; and Rep. Addison McDowell, R-NC6; disagreed with the statistics, noting that it depends on how they are compiled, which leaves room for inaccuracy.
“There was a leader in the Capitol Police Department, Mr. Michael Pulliam, who was suspended for manipulating crime data to make it appear that his community was safer than it was,” Knott said.
He also noted that 1.5 million people have lost their lives to drug overdoses since 2000 and that selling illegal drugs is considered a homicide.
“We have an ideology problem, not a funding problem,” Knott added. He asked Campbell if he thought that it was a coincidence that the top 10 most dangerous cities in the US are led by Democrats, to which Campbell replied, “No.”
Reps. Tim Moore, R-NC14; and Mark Harris, R-NC8; pointed out the differences in surrounding counties, such as Union and Gaston, whose magistrates and judges would keep an alleged criminal behind bars, unlike those in Mecklenburg County.
“I find it personally disgusting that members of this committee have suggested that this is political theater for the purpose of negotiating an open seat while distracting from the fact that violent repeat offenders are continually let free from our judicial system,” said Rep. Pat Harrigan, R-NC10, in reference to Adams’ earlier comment. “That is the problem that we have, and that is the only problem that we have, period.” He also noted that trial delays are a problem.
Harrigan also took exception to Asher’s statistics, stating that they didn’t cover July-September when crime skyrocketed in Charlotte.
Rep. Ralph Norman, R-SC5, holding up a picture of Brown allegedly stabbing Zarutska, asked how any of the statistics would help any of the victims.
“How about the statistics?” he said. “Did it help her? No, it did not. It’s a miscarriage of justice.”