How NC Republicans ruined a bipartisan moment on crime

A month after 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska was murdered in Charlotte, North Carolina Republicans introduced and passed a bill intended to prevent future tragedies. For a while, it looked like it would have bipartisan support.

But a controversial amendment added to the bill at the last minute ruined that.

The amendment proposed on the floor Monday by Senate leader Phil Berger seeks to resume executions in the state by instructing state officials to explore other methods of executing people if the lethal injection is for some reason unable to be administered. That could open the door for the use of the firing squad or electric chair in North Carolina. The larger bill, known as “Iryna’s Law,” also would speed up the process for death penalty appeals.

Democrats walked out of the chamber in protest.

Sen. Mujtaba Mohammed, a Charlotte Democrat who often works on criminal justice legislation, said he was ashamed and frustrated by the last-minute addition, especially after lawmakers had already spent hours debating the bill.

“They chose to hijack this effort, this bipartisan effort that was getting support from Democrats,” Mohammed said. “This bill is about saving lives, not figuring out how we can kill people by any means necessary. That is the vehicle that they chose to put that type of language in. And when that happened, I truly believe that they failed the people of North Carolina.”

Mohammed said he’s met with Zarutska’s family since her death and promised to take meaningful action to honor her life. He tried to work with Republicans on the bill and offer solutions. But many of his suggestions, such as increased funding for mental health and Crisis Intervention Programs and mandatory training for magistrates, were not included, he said.

Still, he told his Republican colleagues he’d support the bill, because he believed it was better than nothing. Other Democrats also expressed their support for the bill after it was introduced, but felt differently after Berger’s amendment.

“You work to compromise and you realize you’re not going to get everything that you want, and yet you’re still willing to support some sort of legislation, because it may be a step in the right direction,” Mohammed said. “But then to purposely add an amendment last minute so that Democrats don’t support a critical piece of legislation, or so that a governor might potentially veto it, that is deeply troubling.”

Berger told reporters after Monday’s vote that “nobody should be surprised” by the amendment, since he and other lawmakers had previously hinted at exploring ways to restart executions in the state. Perhaps, but it’s also disingenuous to add in such a provision at the last minute, especially if Republicans knew they wanted to include it all along. It also shouldn’t be a surprise to Republicans that Democrats would oppose such an amendment, given their widespread opposition to the death penalty in general. Still, Republicans were quick to criticize Democrats for not supporting the bill after its passage.

In a social media post, Berger slammed Democrats for “leaving session and refusing to vote on HB307 to end weak-on-crime policies.” The X account for House Republicans wrote that “DEMOCRATS ARE SOFT-ON-CRIME & WANT TO DEFUND THE POLICE.”

Maybe that was the whole point. Mohammed said he believes Republicans were motivated more by political forces than a genuine desire to improve public safety. Berger, for example, faces a highly competitive primary battle next year from Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page, a more conservative opponent who has criticized him for being insufficiently tough on crime. In a social media post Monday, Page blamed Berger for not doing enough to lift the pause on executions sooner, while Berger issued a press release insisting that he supported efforts to revive the death penalty all along.

It’s indeed frustrating to see what could have been a rare bipartisan effort turn into yet another moment of division, especially in such an important moment. This was an issue where Republicans and Democrats could have worked together, or at least agreed on how to move forward. What’s disheartening to Democrats — and should be to all of us — is that instead of a providing North Carolina with a shared accomplishment, Republicans tried for a political win instead.

 Paige Masten is a deputy opinion editor for the North Carolina opinion team.