DeCarlos Brown Jr., 34, was arrested Thursday and charged with first-degree murder in the August 22 killing of a 23-year-old woman in Charlotte, North Carolina.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When officers advised him it was a medical matter and left, Brown became agitated and called 911 again, prompting officers to arrest and charge him with a Class 1 misdemeanor.<\/p>\n

Despite his violent criminal history, mental illness, and lack of a fixed address, Stokes let him go with no bond required.<\/p>\n

A defendant worthy of intense scrutiny<\/h2>\n
On Aug. 22, police say Brown boarded a Charlotte Area Transit System train without paying fare and stabbed 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska in the neck as she sat alone. She died on the scene. Her family said she had fled war-torn Ukraine in search of a safer life and a new beginning in the United States.<\/p>\n
Even Brown’s mother has said the court system failed<\/a> the community by releasing her son, telling reporters that he had been under psychiatric monitoring after a schizophrenia diagnosis in 2014 and became so aggressive she had to remove him from her home.<\/p>\n
Brown’s criminal record includes an armed robbery conviction in 2014, an assault on his sister in 2021, and multiple other arrests. Critics have blasted Judge Stokes for ignoring his past and releasing him despite clear warning signs.<\/p>\n
Stokes, appointed and supervised by the chief district judge<\/a> in Mecklenburg County, is not a licensed attorney or a member of the North Carolina State Bar<\/a>, although magistrates in the state are not required to be. Under law, magistrates may qualify with a four-year college degree or a two-year associate degree and four years of experience in a related field.<\/p>\n

A judge with a past in criminal and addiction recovery activism<\/h2>\n
In the days following the killing, social media users flooded the Facebook page of Second Chance Services Unlimited, a Charlotte mental health provider, alleging Stokes worked there. The organization responded by stating<\/a>: <\/p>\n
“This has nothing to do with us. This is a Behavioral health clinic helping people in the community with substance abuse and mental health issues. Please stop posting on this page. We have nothing to do with the law.”<\/p>\n
A representative for the Second Chance hung up the phone when asked by the Washington Examiner<\/em> whether Stokes had worked there since 2023. The group’s website is also not currently online, and it’s unclear when the page was removed. Stokes’s name appears on a now-deleted Bold.Pro profile<\/a> listing her as director of operations and a magistrate, but that listed role could not be confirmed independently.<\/p>\n
What is verifiable is that Stokes previously co-founded a separate mental health<\/a> help venture called Pinnacle Recovery Services in 2015, a Michigan-based nonprofit organization that provided housing and recovery services to underserved individuals, according to her LinkedIn account<\/a> and a previous news report. In 2021, she helped open Wing Heaven Sports Haven, a sober sports bar in Lansing, after losing both a brother and a nephew to overdose<\/a>, according to a local Fox affiliate.<\/p>\n
Legal experts who spoke to the Washington Examiner<\/em> said that even absent verified current ties to Second Chance, Stokes’s advocacy background raises serious concerns about the appearance of conflicts when ruling on mental health-related cases.<\/p>\n
Online critics, meanwhile, are calling for an investigation into whether Stokes benefited from her jurisprudence, such as releasing Brown with no bond requirement despite his well-documented criminal history.<\/p>\n
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Magistrate Judge Teresa Stokes freed DeCarlos Brown Jr., a 14-time criminal who went on to butcher Iryna Zarutska. Stokes is also listed as the Director of Operations at Second Chance Services, a Charlotte clinic for mental health and addiction. <\/p>\n
That is not just a side job. It… pic.twitter.com\/1MNZCd0L8N<\/a><\/p>\n
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) September 8, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n