RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — A tough on crime bill passed by state legislators in the wake of a deadly train stabbing was signed into law by Gov. Josh Stein, his office said Friday.
The governor announced he would sign House Bill 307 in a video statement.
The bill is also known as Iryna's Law after Iryna Zarutska, the Ukrainian woman stabbed and killed on a Charlotte train last month. The man accused of stabbing Zarutska, DeCarlos Brown Jr., had a violent criminal history, but was recently charged with a nonviolent misdemeanor crime, and released by a magistrate.
Republican lawmakers drafted the bill, stating it was intended to keep people such as Brown held in jail or treated for mental health concerns.
The bill requires judges to order a mental health evaluation if the suspect faces a viol