Reps excoriate judge in train murder case

Legislators sparred over crime policy at a House Judiciary Committee hearing in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Monday, held in response to the murder of Iryna Zarutska in late August.

Republican New Jersey Rep. Jeff Van Drew criticized “weak” leadership and failed policies that allow dangerous offenders back on the streets. The representative described the irony of Zarutska fleeing the war in Ukraine only to be murdered in America.

“What was perverse about all this, it wasn’t in the battlefields of Ukraine where she lost her life; it was right here, in an American street, in an American city. It’s unacceptable.” Van Drew said. “And you know, ladies and gentlemen, we don’t have to accept it. It doesn’t have to be this way. Bad leaders let this happen, weak leaders. And it’s not just crime policy…it’s an odd time in American history, where we have, I think some really bad ideology, perverse, and bizarre thoughts and ways of going about things.”

“A magistrate judge let this killer walk free, even after his own mother said he was dangerous and that he was a real problem,” Van Drew said. “The magistrate judge said, well, this is the fourteenth time he committed a crime, but, you know, I think it’ll be his last, because he signed a handwritten note that he’s gonna be good. Seriously? Are we serious about that? You’re looking us straight in the face and saying that? You don’t need a degree to know that it’s absurd; you don’t need to be an attorney or a judge to know that it’s wrong.”

Van Drew argued that the pattern is the same across cities the committee has visited: grieving families, shattered lives, and weak-on-crime policy. “We don’t have to accept it,” he said. “Bad leaders let this happen. Weak leaders.”

“Why are judges, elected officials, leftists, nonprofits, and activist groups doing all they can to make our streets more dangerous?” Van Drew said. “I don’t know how else to say it. It’s purposeful, it’s not accidental.”

Democrats countered that Republicans were misplacing blame. Democratic North Carolina Rep. Deborah Ross retorted that, while Zarutska’s death was a tragedy, broader funding decisions in Washington also play a role in public safety.

“To my Republican friends, this is not Democrats’ fault,” Ross said.  She laid out a series of what she described as GOP-led cuts that would slash the budgets of law enforcement in the state. “In short, why if they care so much about law enforcement in North Carolina, are they trying to defund the police and the FBI behind closed doors in Washington, DC?”

“The reality is that these cuts undermine public safety, and they don’t give law enforcement the tools they need to keep us safe,” Ross continued. “This isn’t about an abstract budget line item; the programs on the chopping block equip and train local police, provide support to crime victims, and combat domestic violence.”

 Republican Virginia Rep. Ben Cline framed the issue as a matter of coordination within the justice system.

“You have to have three parts of your system working together in order for there to be accountability,” Cline said. “You have to have law enforcement, who do fantastic jobs arresting and charging; you have to have prosecutors who do amazing jobs…trying to prosecute these cases; and you have to have judges, who are willing to convict and sentence these criminals.”

“To the city of Charlotte, you have a problem, you have a problem here,” Cline said. “You have a criminal justice system that is broken.”

“You look at three factors: You look at their criminal history, you look at whether they’re going to be a danger to the community if they are given a bond, and you look at whether they’re going to abscond and flee,” Cline said. “If any of those are a possibility, you argue against bond. And if a judge thinks that any of those are a likelihood, you deny bond, and you hold them.”

Republican California Rep. Kevin Kiley pointed to national survey data showing widespread public unease. He cited findings from Safewise showing that 64% of Californians report daily safety concerns — the highest rate in the country.

“This is the core of the problem, it’s Criminology 101,” Kiley said. “The best deterrent against crime is the certainty of punishment. And the way that many of these jurisdictions are set up, is there’s various dimensions to the criminal justice system that undermine the certainty of punishment.”

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