EXCLUSIVE – As former Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper runs for the U.S. Senate, the killing of a young woman on a Charlotte light-rail train is triggering renewed scrutiny of a prison-release deal approved under his administration and whether the accused killer was among those freed.
Republican officials are raising urgent questions, asking whether records show DeCarlos Brown Jr., the parolee charged in the fatal stabbing of 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska, was tied to a 2021 COVID-era settlement that authorized the early release or transition of 3,500 incarcerated individuals.
Prosecutors say Zarutska was stabbed to death aboard a Charlotte light-rail train by Brown, a repeat offender with an extensive criminal history who was under state supervision at the time of the attack.
The case has drawn heightened attention after records reviewed by Fox News Digital, provided by Republican officials, appeared to link Brown to the 2021 settlement, which was negotiated between Cooper’s administration and civil rights groups amid concerns over COVID-19 conditions in state prisons.
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The records reference offender identification numbers tied to the NAACP v. Cooper settlement and include the Feb. 15, 2021 eligibility cutoff date, a key benchmark outlined in the agreement for determining which inmates qualified for early release or transition. One of the offender identification numbers listed corresponds to Brown, according to the records reviewed.
State officials have not publicly confirmed whether Brown was ultimately released or transitioned under the settlement, and no public list of the 3,500 inmates affected by the agreement has ever been released.
After publication inquiries, corrections officials provided additional details about Brown’s custody and supervision history, saying his release from prison was unrelated to the COVID litigation or settlement.
According to the Department of Adult Correction, Brown was released from custody on Sept. 20, 2020, after completing his mandatory minimum sentence, and began a 12-month period of post-release supervision, as required by law.
While on post-release supervision, Brown was arrested on Feb. 6, 2021, which subjected him to possible revocation. A preliminary revocation hearing was held on Feb. 15, 2021, at which point a hearing officer elected to reinstate Brown’s post-release supervision.
Corrections officials said the COVID settlement was not signed until Feb. 25, 2021 — ten days after that hearing. However, because the settlement allowed the state to count eligible offenders retroactively, Brown was included on a settlement-related list, even though neither his release from custody nor the revocation decision was affected by the litigation.
Officials said Brown completed his sentence on Sept. 20, 2021, at which point the state’s authority to incarcerate or supervise him ended.
Cooper’s campaign disputed the allegations and said Brown was not released as part of the settlement, while defending Cooper’s record on public safety.
“This is a lie,” a Cooper campaign spokesperson told Fox News Digital. “Decarlos Brown was not released from prison as a result of a court-ordered settlement but in fact served his full sentence and was not released early. 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.”
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Despite the clarification, Republican leaders said the lack of a public list and the retroactive nature of the settlement raise unresolved transparency and accountability concerns.
Following Zarutska’s murder, North Carolina Senate Leader Phil Berger said the records raised serious transparency concerns and demanded access to the prison-release list, arguing voters deserve to know who was freed under policies adopted during Cooper’s administration.
“As governor, Roy Cooper let thousands of criminals out early and hid his actions from the public,” Berger said. “DeCarlos Brown Jr., who is now on trial for murder, appeared on a settlement-related list. North Carolinians have a right to know who was released and why.”
Candidate for U.S. Senate Michael Whatley echoed those criticisms, placing direct blame on Cooper for the prison-release policies highlighted in the records.
“Roy Cooper released repeat offender DeCarlos Brown Jr. from prison, who went on to brutally murder Iryna Zarutska aboard the Charlotte light rail this past summer,” Whatley said. “Cooper lied. He said the 3,500 inmates he released from prison weren’t violent. Then he tried to hide the truth from the public.
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“Cooper is responsible for the death of Iryna Zarutska. He is a pro-criminal, anti-victim politician who will do anything to appease the radical left even if it means putting North Carolinians at risk and our communities in danger. He has disqualified himself from serving in public office.”
Rep. Mark Harris, R-N.C., also cited the records and the Zarutska case as evidence of what he described as systemic failures in North Carolina’s criminal justice policies.
“North Carolina’s pro-crime Democrats have a shameful history of prioritizing criminals over victims through radical policies like former Governor Roy Cooper’s DEI reforms and cashless bail that freed dangerous repeat offenders,” Harris said.
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“Iryna Zarutska was brutally stabbed to death on a Charlotte light rail by a career criminal released on a mere written promise despite his violent history — exposing how broken these soft-on-crime failures truly are,” he added. “Yet North Carolina Democrats try to bury her story and others like it, hoping we’ll forget. Let me be clear: Iryna Zarutska and every victim of Cooper and Stein’s dangerous policies will never be forgotten — we demand justice and real accountability.”
The settlement authorized the early release or transition of 3,500 incarcerated individuals, a move Republican officials have described as one of the largest mass prisoner releases in the country. At the time, Cooper’s administration emphasized that the releases would focus on non-violent offenders, though officials later acknowledged that individuals convicted of violent crimes were also included.
Court records show some inmates released during the period had extensive felony histories, including crimes involving assault, sexual offenses, kidnapping and offenses against children.
Despite repeated requests from lawmakers, the state has never released a public list identifying which inmates were released or transitioned under the agreement.
Oversight of prison releases now falls under the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction, which was split from the Department of Public Safety following a restructuring, DPS officials confirmed.
Republican lawmakers argue the secrecy surrounding the releases has prevented public accountability and raised serious public-safety concerns.
Scrutiny of Cooper’s criminal justice record has intensified further following a separate deadly case involving Juan Alvarado Aguilar, an illegal immigrant accused of killing two North Carolina teenagers in an alleged DUI crash.
Court records show Aguilar had a lengthy criminal history spanning nearly two decades, including repeated failures to appear in court and multiple charges that were ultimately dismissed while Cooper served as attorney general and later as governor.
Aguilar was charged with driving while impaired in Cabarrus County in 2020, during Cooper’s governorship, but failed to appear in court in 2022, according to court records. A warrant was issued, but records show no enforcement action was taken prior to the fatal crash.
Earlier cases against Aguilar were dismissed years after his failures to appear. In July 2017, two Mecklenburg County charges stemming from a 2008 case were dropped by prosecutors for what court records describe as “inventory control and judicial efficiency,” during Cooper’s tenure as governor.
Additional charges filed against Aguilar in Wake County in 2003 and 2004 were dismissed in June 2019 as part of a “mass dismissal project” overseen by the Wake County District Attorney’s Office. The initiative occurred while Cooper was governor and under the supervision of then-Chief Justice Cheri Beasley, a Cooper appointee.
Both Mecklenburg and Wake counties have been identified by critics as so-called “sanctuary” jurisdictions — a designation Republican lawmakers say limited cooperation with federal immigration authorities during Cooper’s time in office. Cooper also vetoed multiple pieces of legislation that would have required greater cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration officials.
North Carolina House Speaker Destin Hall also blamed Cooper and Democratic leadership for what he described as failures on public safety, pointing specifically to vetoes of legislation aimed at immigration enforcement.
“When it comes to public safety, North Carolina Democrats have utterly failed our communities,” Hall said. “Former Governor Cooper vetoed legislation that would have required local officials to help remove criminal illegal aliens off our streets not once, not twice, but three times.
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The National Republican Senatorial Committee tied the cases directly to Cooper’s Senate campaign.
“Roy Cooper spent nearly 40 years in elected office coddling criminals and protecting dangerous illegals, including this repeat offender,” said Nick Puglia, regional press secretary for the NRSC. “Innocents like Iryna Zarutska paid the price, and now two young North Carolinians’ lives have been ripped away too. Cooper’s deadly soft-on-crime policies have made North Carolina less safe.”
Cooper, who is now running for the U.S. Senate, has highlighted his record as attorney general as tough on violent crime. Critics argue the prison-release settlement and the cases involving Brown and Aguilar tell a different story, one they say voters deserve full transparency about before Election Day.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the civil-rights groups involved in the settlement for comment.
Editor’s Note: This report has been updated for clarity.
