Senate passes crime reform bill with amendment significantly affecting NC's death penalty

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- On Monday, Senate lawmakers passed HB 307, known as "Iryna's Law," the crime reform bill just filed this week that eliminates cashless bail and lays out new conditions for pretrial release for certain violent offenses. It comes in the aftermath of the Charlotte light rail stabbing that killed 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska, for whom the bill is named.

The version of the bill voted through the Senate on Monday includes a new amendment introduced by Senate President Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, that could allow North Carolina to resume executions -- something the state hasn't done since 2006.

That amendment sparked passionate debate on the Senate floor, with several Democrats saying they felt deceived by their Republican colleagues and accusing them of using Zarutska's death for political purposes.

"At the end of the day, this is a bill where we could have had a bipartisan moment together to actually make our communities safer. And it was hijacked for political gain," said Sydney Batch, the Senate Democratic Leader.

Though the death penalty is legal in North Carolina, executions have been on hold for legal reasons for nearly two decades. Currently, the only approved method of execution in the state is lethal injection. The amendment included and approved as part of Iryna's law would keep lethal injections as the default method of execution, but allow alternative methods if lethal injection was found to be unconstitutional by the courts or if it couldn't be carried out.

"The General Assembly should not be using the death of this young (lady) to sanction state-sponsored murder of individuals who are on death row and due process needs to be worked out. And that's what this General Assembly did today," said Democratic Senator Mujtaba Mohammed.

Berger said the amendment was merely about making sure the death penalty could actually be imposed.

"It just so happens that the provisions that we have and the decisions that have been made have rendered that death penalty inoperable, as if we didn't have one," he said.

In addition to the new death penalty provisions, Iryna's Law would eliminate the "written promise to appear," also known as cashless bail, as an option for judicial officials. It could also create new requirements for pretrial release for certain violent offenses, make changes to the state's involuntary commitment proceedings, and reduce the amount of time allowed for a death penalty appeal.

Wake County DA has reservations

Before Monday's death penalty amendment and vote, ABC11 sat down with Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman to discuss the proposed changes to pretrial release protocols. Freeman said she supports the bail parameters introduced in the bill, but has concerns about penalizing poverty or mental health.

"I don't think anybody thinks that whether you have resources to post a bond or don't have resources to post a bond should be the determining factor of whether you're going to be likely to come to court or whether you're going to be a risk to public safety," Freeman said.

Both Freeman and Democratic lawmakers said Monday they felt more resources needed to be dedicated to the state's mental health programs. Iryna's Law will head to the House next, where Senate President Berger told ABC11 he's confident the bill will pass.