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"Iryna's Law" enacts numerous changes to North Carolina's criminal laws and pretrial procedures. It also requires the governor to try to restart executions, which have been held up in North Carolina by legal challenges since 2006.
Paul Specht, WRAL state government reporter
Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025-- Capitol Broadcasting Company's editorial cartoonist
A new effort to restart the death penalty in North Carolina, enact stricter rules for bail and ramp up monitoring of alleged criminals with mental health problems passed the state House of Representatives Tuesday.
Changes to bail policies, rules for magistrates and the death penalty are among the proposals North Carolina legislators are considering after the Charlotte stabbing of Iryna Zarutska.
An extradition deal with Mexico means Alder Marin-Sotelo won't face the death penalty. Instead, he pleaded guilty to murdering Wake Deputy Ned Byrd and got life in prison without parole.
The Utah County Attorney's Office is expected to announce formal charges against Tyler Robinson, who is accused of shooting and killing Charlie Kirk.
The death penalty hasn't been repealed in North Carolina. But it also hasn't been used in almost 20 years. Some state lawmakers want to change that.
Will Doran, Stephanie Beck and Destinee Patterson, WRAL News
State lawmakers are examining ways to restart the death penalty in North Carolina -- one of a series of possible legislative moves in the wake of a fatal stabbing in Charlotte.
North Carolina still has the death penalty in state law, but no one has been executed since 2006. Donald Trump and other Republicans want that to change.
Destinee Patterson and Will Doran, WRAL News
The death penalty is legal in North Carolina, but the state hasn't used that power since 2006.
A bill advancing in the state legislature Tuesday would allow people sentenced to death in North Carolina to choose between three options for their execution: lethal injection, electrocution, or firing squad.
On Wednesday, a Pasquotank County jury recommended four death sentences for Jonathan Michael Monk from a failed escape attempt at Pasquotank Correctional Institution in October 2017.
One of Gov. Roy Cooper's final actions in office was to commute the death penalty sentences of 15 men on death row in North Carolina state prison. They will now serve a life sentence instead.
Will Doran, WRAL state government reporter & Destinee Patterson, WRAL reporter
Those affected by Biden's action, all of whom were convicted of murder, will serve life imprisonment without the possibility of parole instead of facing execution. Only three men, who each carried out notorious mass killings, will remain on federal death row.
Aishvarya Kavi, New York Times
Lawyers for Hasson Bacote, a Black man sentenced to death for his role in a 2007 robbery and murder in Johnston County told a judge Wednesday, "If you're a Black man, you will be sentenced to death. If you're white, you have a 50% chance of life."
Chelsea Donovan and Destinee Patterson, WRAL reporters
William Hulme and Matthew Johnson were a couple who shared their love for each other for about five years. However, in April, their roommate Christian Webster allegedly shot them to death.
William Hulme and Matthew Johnson were a couple who shared their love for each other and their community for about five years. However, in April, their roommate Christian Webster allegedly shot them to death.
Destinee Patterson, WRAL reporter
Esteemed civil rights attorney Bryan Stevenson took the stand in a Johnston County trial that could have implications for more than 100 inmates on death row.
Some said racism led to a man's death penalty conviction in Johnston County. Court proceedings continue in Smithfield on March 6.
Historians, researchers and experts on race and the justice system testify in the appeal of a Johnston County murder case.
The Racial Justice Act hearing of Hasson Bacote continues this week in Johnston County. Bacote is arguing that past indications of racism in the courtroom hurt his right to a fair trial.
WRAL staff
Day 3: Statements continue in the legal challenge to a Johnston County death penalty sentence, a multi-day trial that could have implications for more than 100 people on death row in the North Carolina prison system.
Hasson Bacote's attorneys are trying to prove that Black people were unfairly excluded from the jury that heard his 2009 murder case. Bacote faces the death penalty, convicted in the 2007 murder of a man during a robbery in Johnston County.
WRAL Staff
Day 2: Statements continue in the legal challenge to a Johnston County death penalty sentence, a multi-day trial that could have implications for more than 100 people on death row in the North Carolina prison system.
The Racial Justice Act, a now-defunct North Carolina law, used to let death row inmates appeal on the basis of racism in their prosecution. Some appeals are still underway, including the Hasson Bacote case in Johnston County.
Chelsea Donovan and Will Doran, WRAL reporters
