WASHINGTON: US Attorney General Pam Bondi has pledged to pursue the maximum penalty against a man charged with murdering a Ukrainian refugee on public transportation.
Authorities allege that 34-year-old DeCarlos Brown Jr repeatedly stabbed 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska from behind while she rode a light rail train in Charlotte last month.
“We will seek the maximum penalty for this unforgivable act of violence — he will never again see the light of day as a free man,“ Bondi stated officially.
Brown faces one federal count of committing an act causing death on a mass transportation system, which carries possible penalties of life imprisonment or capital punishment.
Mecklenburg County prosecutors have separately charged Brown with first degree murder under state jurisdiction.
Local Democratic leaders faced criticism for emphasizing Brown’s mental health history in their initial response to the killing.
Zarutska had left Ukraine following Russia’s 2022 invasion, with President Donald Trump claiming “her blood is on the hands of the Democrats” in a social media post.
Disturbing security footage shows a man boarding the tramway, sitting behind Zarutska, and stabbing her three times without any prior interaction between them.
Trump administration officials have used this case to accuse Democratic leaders of being insufficiently tough on crime matters.
Criminal cases typically fall under local prosecutors’ jurisdiction in the United States, based on state and local criminal codes rather than federal law.
Brown has multiple prior convictions including an armed robbery that resulted in a five-year prison sentence, according to White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt.
“This monster should have been locked up, and Iryna should still be alive, but Democrat politicians, liberal judges and weak prosecutors would rather virtue signal than lock up criminals and protect their communities,“ Leavitt told reporters.
The Raleigh News & Observer reported that Brown’s lawyer in a previous case described him as having a long history of mental health issues. – AFP
