CHARLOTTE — The man accused of killing Iryna Zarutska on the light rail last summer, DeCarlos Brown, was on a list for early release because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Channel 9 confirmed Wednesday. Despite being on the list, the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction says Brown was not released early.
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Back in the height of Covid, the ACLU and NAACP sued Gov. Roy Cooper calling for inmates to be released because of the pandemic. The parties settled and 3,500 prisoners were granted early release. The list of those 3,500 people was never made public. A partial list obtained by Channel 9 includes the inmate number of Brown.
Brown’s inclusion on the list was first reported by Fox News.
Brown is a household name after police say he stabbed Iryna Zarutska to death on the light rail in Charlotte on Aug. 22, 2025. He spent most of his adult life in and out of trouble and had a stint in state prison after being convicted of robbery with a dangerous weapon in 2015.
Brown was serving some of that sentence during the Covid pandemic. Cooper was governor at the time and activists sued him demanding the early release of state prisoners because of the fear of coronavirus. The parties settled in 2021 with the Cooper administration agreeing to release 3,500 people.
The list of early releases includes Brown’s inmate number and an early release date of Feb. 15, 2021. But the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction says Brown’s placement on the list had nothing to do with when he was released.
NC DAC says Brown was released on Sept. 20, 2020, after completing his mandatory minimum sentence and he was put on post release supervision. On Feb. 6, 2021, Brown was arrested again. Instead of being sent back to prison, on Feb. 15, 2021, the hearing officer reinstated his post release supervision. The settlement agreement was signed 10 days later.
DAC says the settlement allowed the state to count offenders retroactively and that’s how Brown ended up on the list.
Cooper is leading Democrat in the U.S. Senate race, and a spokesperson says anyone claiming Cooper allowed Brown to be released early “is lying.”
“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,” a Cooper spokesperson said.
Republican Senate Leader Phil Berger is questioning why Cooper never released the list and who the 3,499 other people are on it. He wants to know how many were convicted of violent crime, like DeCarlos Brown was.
“Who else is out there, was out there and has been out there for a number of years?” Berger said. “We’re concerned also about who else is on this list that Cooper has hidden from the public.”
Brown is currently in federal custody. Next week house lawmakers have called Charlotte officials to testify about his case and other public safety issues in Charlotte.
Cooper’s leading Republican challenger for U.S. Senate, Michael Whatley, posted a statement on X in response to the Fox News report on Brown’s inclusion on the list.
“Cooper said the inmates he released weren’t violent. That was a lie,” he said. “Then he tried to cover it up. An innocent woman is dead, and her blood is on his hands.”
VIDEO: DeCarlos Brown appears in federal court for fatal light rail stabbing
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