Charlotte light rail stabbing could lead to changes in NC mental health law
North Carolina legislators will soon propose new a law addressing the revolving door between North Carolina’s mental health and criminal justice systems.
At a Tuesday hearing of the state House Committee on Involuntary Commitment and Public Safety, members heard from a prosecutor and district judges about how current law leaves dangerous gaps that can lead to untreated mental illness and increased public safety risks.
Committee co-chair Rep. Timothy Reeder, a Republican from Pitt County, said he planned to have a report and draft legislation ready by April. He also said the committee will hold public comment in the future.
More laws to change after Charlotte stabbings
House Speaker Destin Hall created this committee after Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska’s Charlotte death and said its members were to “recommend legislative, administrative, and policy changes to strengthen North Carolina’s mental health and involuntary commitment systems while supporting law enforcement’s role in protecting communities.”
DeCarlos Brown Jr., the mentally ill and homeless man arrested in the killing, had interacted with police and courts before the stabbing.
The Charlotte Observer reported this week that police broke their own policies when they failed to connect him with mental health resources eight months before the stabbing and instead charged him with misusing 911. He had dialed the emergency line while in a mental health crisis.
Also before Zarutska’s death, a judge presiding over that misdemeanor misusing 911 case ordered that he be mentally evaluated — but that didn’t mean he was getting any treatment or being consistently monitored.
Current law offers few safeguards for situations involving mental illness, Lisa Coltrain, a prosecutor representing the North Carolina Conference of District Attorneys, said at the Tuesday hearing.
She also raised concerns about whether local forensic psychologists, who determine whether defendants are capable to proceed in court, are properly trained. In some cases, she said, they only receive six hours of training and produce two paragraphs of evaluation for judges to consider. Psychologists stationed in state prisons, on the other hand, produce 10 or more pages.
What happens when mentally ill defendants can’t be prosecuted?
When a mentally ill defendant is charged with a violent crime and is deemed incapable of understanding what is happening inside a courtroom, a judge must determine whether they are a danger to themselves or others.
If they are not, they could be released.
If they are, they stay at a state psychiatric hospital until they are no longer a danger. Physicians could then try to get them to gain capacity and get them back into court. But if that takes too long (longer than the maximum sentence for the charge they face), those defendants could be released, too.
If a defendant is charged with a nonviolent crime and is unable to proceed, they are more likely to be released and potentially re-offend, Coltrain said.
Under current law, non-violent offenders who are incapable of proceeding in court but are not a harm to themselves or others are simply released. They are not connected with resources that could help them gain capacity or deter them from being arrested again, she said.
If a judge thinks a non-violent offender is a danger, they go to a “local facility,” state law says. There, they may be released or referred to outpatient treatment for up to 90 days.
The House committee members heard about New York’s assisted outpatient commitment program, which is funded by its state legislature and treats people for up to a year.
This story was originally published February 11, 2026 at 5:00 AM.
