A Mecklenburg County magistrate is facing public and political criticism after a man she released on a "written promise to appear" in January was arrested in August and charged in the fatal stabbing of a 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee, according to police and local media reports.
Magistrate Judge Teresa Stokes signed the release conditions in Brown's January court appearance following a misdemeanor arrest for alleged misuse of the 911 system, court documents obtained by the Daily Mail show. Authorities say Decarlos Brown Jr., 34, was arrested on Jan. 19 after he called 911 while officers were conducting a welfare check. An arrest affidavit quoted in local reporting said Brown told officers he believed "man made" materials were inside his body controlling his movements; officers told him the issue appeared to be medical and there was nothing further they could do, the affidavit said.
Police say Brown stabbed Iryna Zarutska on Aug. 22 as she sat on a light-rail platform in Charlotte's South End neighborhood. Video circulating on social media and obtained by news outlets captured the attack, which prosecutors said was unprovoked. Zarutska, who had arrived in the United States recently after fleeing the war in Ukraine, died at the scene, her family said on a GoFundMe page describing her death as an "irreparable loss."
Brown was arrested at the scene and taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. He has been charged with first-degree murder, Mecklenburg County authorities and local reporting said. The Mecklenburg District Attorney’s Office told the Daily Mail it cannot comment on defendants with pending cases, adding in broad terms that it remains the office's position that those who commit violent crimes should be held in custody pending trial.
Stokes' decision to accept a written promise to appear rather than setting secured conditions for Brown's release has drawn criticism on social media and from some elected officials. A photograph of Zarutska alongside images of Brown was circulated on the platform X by Rep. Randy Fine, R-Fla., who wrote that "every judge that released the criminal Decarlos Brown needs to be held accountable." Other users and commenters posted that Brown had been released multiple times despite an extensive criminal history.
Court records and police documents obtained by local outlets show Brown has a lengthy record dating to his adolescence, including a 2014 armed robbery that carried a five-year prison sentence; he was released from that sentence in September 2020, according to reports. He was arrested on multiple subsequent charges, including an assault in 2021 that authorities said left his sister with minor injuries, disordersly conduct and trespassing. Local reporting noted that many earlier charges were later dropped.
Brown's mother has told reporters that he was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 2014 and was placed under psychiatric monitoring for two weeks after an involuntary commitment she secured. She told Newsweek that his condition and behavior became so difficult that she had to evict him from her home. Those details, reported by local outlets, have been cited by critics who say the system failed to keep a person with serious mental health needs from committing additional violence.
The January incident that led to Brown's court appearance involved a welfare check; police said he dialed 911 during the contact and was charged with a misdemeanor for misuse of the emergency system. Despite what court documents described as his homelessness and lack of a fixed address, the magistrate's release order indicated he was permitted to go free on a written promise to return for his next hearing. The Daily Mail reported it reviewed a court memo bearing Stokes' signature and a release document listing the written promise as the condition of release.
The Daily Mail said it contacted Stokes for comment. The Mecklenburg District Attorney's Office declined to discuss the defendant because his case is pending but reiterated its general view favoring custody for those accused of violent offenses.
Legal experts and court officials not involved in the case noted that magistrates and judges weigh a range of factors when setting release conditions, including the nature of the charge, flight risk, ties to the community and available alternatives to detention. Defense attorneys and civil rights advocates often highlight concerns about pretrial detention for those with mental illness and for indigent defendants, while prosecutors and victims' advocates cite public safety and the likelihood of reoffending as reasons to favor more restrictive conditions.
The case has prompted renewed scrutiny of how courts handle defendants with mental health issues and homelessness, and how different parts of the criminal justice and social services systems coordinate. Calls for accountability on social media and from some elected officials have focused on Stokes' role in the January release; online commentators also noted previous judicial decisions in Brown's criminal history. Media outlets reported that Stokes serves as director of operations at a mental health and addiction clinic in Charlotte, a detail some social media users cited in criticism of her decision to release Brown.
Authorities continue to investigate the Aug. 22 stabbing. Prosecutors will determine charges through the legal process, and the case is expected to proceed in Mecklenburg County courts. Zarutska's family continues to raise funds for funeral and related expenses and has posted statements about her recent arrival in the United States seeking safety from the war in Ukraine.
The episode adds to ongoing debates in North Carolina and nationally about balancing public safety, the rights of defendants, and the treatment of people with mental illness in the criminal justice system. Officials and advocates on different sides of that debate say they will be watching how prosecutors, the courts and local services respond as the case moves forward.