Fact check: Gov. Roy Cooper did not release DeCarlos Brown Jr. early from prison
Republicans are blaming former Gov. Roy Cooper for the death of Iryna Zarutska and arguing a COVID-era prison settlement led to her killer’s early release — a claim state prison officials dispute.
National and local reporting this week showed that DeCarlos Brown Jr., Zarutska’s alleged killer, appears on a list of 3,500 prisoners associated with a 2021 settlement over prison conditions. Republicans have seized on the record and a Fox News headline as proof Brown was released early — promoting it with emails, social media posts and text messages. But the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction said that interpretation does not reflect what happened.
Brown was not released early at all, spokesperson Keith Acree said. He actually served two days past his minimum release date.
What Republicans are saying, and what the records show
Republicans pointed to Brown’s inmate number appearing on the list of inmates released as evidence the settlement, and Cooper, contributed in some way to Zarutska’s murder. Brown is accused of stabbing Zarutska, a 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee, on a Charlotte light rail train last year, a brutal attack that drew national outrage after surveillance video of the killing was released. The crime sparked intense political reaction as Republicans elevated the case as an example of what they described as soft-on-crime Democratic policies.
“Today we learned that the tragic and horrific murder of Iryna Zarutska in Charlotte, NC was the COMPLETELY avoidable and DIRECT result of Democrat-run SOFT-on-crime policies,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said in a post on X Wednesday along with a screenshot of the Fox News story.
Republican Senate candidate Michael Whatley and the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which helps GOP candidates like Whatley, seized on the same reporting.
“There is no doubt Roy Cooper released DeCarlos Brown from prison early, and this report further confirms that fact,” NRSC spokesperson Nick Puglia said in a news release. “Cooper is responsible for Iryna Zarutska’s murder.”
But state prison officials said Brown was not released from prison early.
Brown received 176 days of jail credit for time served before he was sentenced for robbery with a dangerous weapon, according to the Department of Adult Correction. Brown’s minimum release date was Sept. 18, 2020, and he was released from prison custody on Sept. 20, 2020, after completing that mandatory minimum sentence. At that point, Brown began a required 12-month period of post-release supervision. The department said that release and transition to supervision were entirely unrelated to the lawsuit between the state and NAACP over prison conditions amid the pandemic that later resulted in a settlement.
While on post-release supervision, Brown was arrested again on Feb. 6, 2021 on charges of misdemeanor assault and damage to personal property which were dismissed a year later. A preliminary revocation hearing was held on Feb. 15, 2021, and a hearing officer elected not to revoke Brown’s post-release supervision.
The COVID-era settlement was signed on Feb. 25, 2021, which was 10 days after that hearing.
“In short,” the department said in an email to The Charlotte Observer, “neither Brown’s release from custody nor the subsequent decision at the revocation hearing was affected by the COVID litigation or settlement.”
Brown reached the end of his post-release supervision on Sept. 20, 2021. He was arrested again in 2024 and 2025 for misusing 911, but was released by a magistrate judge and did not serve prison time. The Charlotte Observer last year obtained video of police interacting with Brown in January 2025, when he begged them for help with what he said was something controlling him. Video showed that instead of getting Brown mental health treatment, police arrested him.
Why was Brown on the list of prisoners?
The settlement came out of a lawsuit over prison conditions during the pandemic, not an executive order to release inmates, according to Cooper’s campaign. The agreement required the state to adjust the sentences of about 3,500 people, either by allowing them to finish their sentences outside prison or by counting time served under post-release supervision.
Because the settlement allowed the state to count certain cases retroactively to meet its terms, state prison officials said, Brown’s case was included on the list even though he had already been released from prison months earlier and his custody status was not changed by the settlement.
Still, Republicans have continued to cite Brown’s inclusion on the list as evidence of wrongdoing. Republican Senate leader Phil Berger’s office told the Observer they had a copy of “Roy Cooper’s secret list of 3,500 criminals who were part of the 2021 settlement,” and provided it to media outlets.
“As governor, Roy Cooper let thousands of criminals out early and hid their identities from the public,” Berger said in a statement. “This isn’t only about DeCarlos Brown, this is about soft-on-crime Roy Cooper endangering our communities.”
Cooper’s campaign called the accusations that Cooper released Brown from prison early “a lie.”
“Roy Cooper is the only candidate who spent his career prosecuting violent criminals and keeping thousands of them behind bars as attorney general, and signing tough on crime laws and stricter pretrial release bail policy as governor,” the campaign said.
This story was originally published February 5, 2026 at 5:50 PM.
