Then-Governor Roy Cooper released the repeat offender who murdered Iryna Zarutska on the Charlotte Light Rail from prison. Additionally, when Cooper was Governor and Attorney General, charges were dismissed against an illegal with a “lengthy criminal history” who went on to kill two young North Carolinians in a DUI crash.
Read More from Fox News on Cooper caving to the woke mob and releasing Zarutska’s murderer:
Republican officials say records are raising urgent questions about whether 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.
…[R]ecords reviewed by Fox News Digital, provided by Republican officials, appear 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.
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.
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“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.“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.”
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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.
Read more about Roy Cooper’s soft-on-crime, sanctuary policies allowing a criminal illegal to roam free, ending in tragedy:
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.
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“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.
“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.”
Read more here.