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CNN featured a heated debate Tuesday night over the fatal stabbing of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska in Charlotte last month, arguing about how crimes involving mentally ill individuals should be handled.
“NewsNight” host Abby Phillip questioned her panel on where “seriously mentally ill” people who were on the “verge of violence” should go, other than the streets, when they show signs of being dangerous.
“For North Carolina, not on the verge of violence — actually demonstrated violence in the past and nobody flagged it,” National Review writer Caroline Downey promptly shot back. “Actually, the police, to your point, said we’re going to refer you to more resources and that went nowhere.”
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Last month, Zarutska, a 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee, had come to the U.S. seeking safety from her war-torn homeland.
The suspect, Decarlos Brown, had been arrested more than 14 times over the past 12 years, police records show. The gruesome murder has sparked intense backlash from the public, with many questioning why Brown was free to walk the streets.
The panelists debated how Brown’s long rap sheet and history of mental illness should have been addressed.
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Responding to Downey’s claim that nobody flagged Brown as a potential danger, Phillip cited the fact that he had served time in prison for his violent offenses.
“Not for his schizophrenia though,” Downey responded, drawing immediate backlash from the panel.
The National Review writer clarified her position, adding that Brown’s schizophrenia played a major role in the fatal stabbing. She argued that the combination of his violent record and mental illness suggests that he should have been “locked away for life,” and that he was a “menace to society.”
Phillip asked Downey to clarify exactly why he should be locked away for life, to which the National Review writer responded, “schizophrenia.”
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This response elicited a passionate response from the majority of the panel, and sparked a fiery back-and-forth between Downey and former Bill Clinton aide Keith Boykin.
“I can’t believe you actually said that somebody should be locked away in jail forever for schizophrenia,” Boykin stated. “Did you really say that?”
Downey reiterated her position once again, arguing that he should be “isolated in an institution” rather than a conventional prison, and stressed this point throughout the remainder of the segment.
Democratic Illinois congressional hopeful Kat Abughazaleh and liberal commentator Ana Navarro pushed back on Downey’s claims about Brown’s schizophrenia, with Abughazaleh pressing Downey on her assertion that Brown should be institutionalized for life due to his mental illness.
“He should be institutionalized, yes, and if you’re saying he should not, you’re saying that young women like you and me are basically just — we are lambs into the slaughter,” the National Review writer asserted. “You go on public transportation in this city, that could happen to any single one of us.”
Phillip wrapped up the segment shortly thereafter, claiming that there was no way the panel could “fully unpack” the conversation with the time they had.
Fox News’ Rachel Wolf and Alexis McAdams contributed to this report.
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