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smartphone or tablet, And again, thank you so much for
your support. There was a development in the the trial
of de Carlos Brown Junior, who is charged at the
state level and the federal level in the murder of
Arena Zerutzka on the Charlotte light rail line. She was
the Ukrainian refugee. So this from WSOCTV. The family of
Arena zero Uska may have to wait even longer for
the man accused of killing her to face a judge.
You have to wait longer for this guy to go
before the court. The defense attorney for De Carlos Brown Junior,
who has been in federal custody for months, is now
asking the court to delay his next state hearing by
six months. Okay, so he's got state charges, he's got
federal charges. He's being held in federal custody, which is
probably for the best, because if he were to be,
you know, remanded over to the local jail, like, he
probably would be released within twenty four hours. That's sorry,
but it's probably true. A newly filed two page motion
outlines several arguments for the requested delaying a mental evaluation
that has already been done and it found that Brown
was incapable to proceed on the state murder charge. The
Zerutzka family attorney Lauren Newton is quoted in this piece
by WSOCTV and says, according to the filing, Brown was
evaluated at Central Regional Hospital back in December that generated
a report dated December twenty ninth and concluded that he
was not capable of moving forward in the state case. Now,
according to WSOCTV, a judge has not yet ruled on
those findings. The motion notes that the state could request
treatment aimed at restoring Brown's mental capacity, but that cannot
happen while he remains in federal custody. The document says
prosecutors agreed with this assessment, Newton said. The lawyer for
the Zarutzka family said that they are willing to accept
a delay if it ultimately leads to justice. So he's
again state charges federal charges. And in my observation, in
you know, twenty years of covering trials and court proceedings
and that sort of thing, it usually is the case
where one of the prosecutors sort of takes priority, you know,
like the state will charge them but then doesn't really
do anything and the Feds are going to run the
case or vice versa. Right, But I think usually if
you're looking at a bunch of federal charges, there's way
less opportunity for plea agreements and that sort of thing.
And if the Feds are charging, you got more resources,
and so a lot of a lot of times the
state just lets the Fed run point. So this is
only in the state case. In fact, the New York
Post picked this story up because the story, you know,
went national, and the Assistant Attorney General Harmey Dillon said,
I had a great call this morning with our US
attorney in Charlotte, that would be Russ Ferguson. Carlos Brown
Junior remains in federal custody, and so the parallel state
proceedings are in no way dispositive. In other words, the
case is not done. Whatever the state is doing, that's
on the state. She says there will be a federal
competency determination and prosecution track taking precedents case. So there
you go, confirming the federal case is the priority. They're
leading this. So whatever happens in the state proceedings or
secondary he is facing federal murder charges, and a spokesperson
for US Attorney Russ Ferguson said the federal case, including
the competency determination, is separate from the state proceedings. Later
on in the article, the state has not announced whether
it will pursue capital punishment, the death penalty. Doctors assess
whether a defendant can comprehend what is happening and meaningfully
participate in their trial, and they point out in this
story another clinician could reach a different conclusion, something that
a judge would ultimately weigh during a competency hearing. In
order to put somebody on trial for their life, you
have to show that they are aware of what the
charges are, they understand the proceedings, they can participate in
their defense. This from National Review. At the time of
the attack, Brown had recently been released by Mecklenburg County
magistrate Judge Teresa Stokes following a misuse of nine to
one one charge. There was the incident at the hospital.
Brown was acting weird. People called the cops. They show
up and he's like, there's a man made substance controlling
me and all of this stuff, and they're like that
sounds like a medical thing. It's not something for the
police to investigate. Like, we're just cops. We cannot know
if there's some man made substance controlling your body. And
so then he got mad at them, and so he
calls nine to one one again to try to get
somebody else out there whatever, but he hangs up, and
so that's when they throw the charge on him of
misuse of nine to one one. Brown had a long
criminal record, including a history of mental illness as well
as violent criminal behavior. The magistrate nonetheless released Brown on
what is dubbed cashless bail. His earliest crimes date back
to two thousand and seven, including several serious charges such
as robbery with a dangerous weapon, possession of a firearm
by a felon, and felony larceny, along with a slew
of lesser misdemeanors. National Review reported back in September after
reviewing court documents before stabbing Zarutzka in the neck. Brown
was arrested thirty three times and criminally charged on fourteen
of those occasions. I keep saying it, this is a choice.
These are choices that people are making in government, that
voters are making. We don't have to have a revolving door,
catch and release court system. That's a choice. After the
stabbing took place, you'll recall that de Carlos Brown Junior's
mother spoke out, saying that she had struggled to have
him committed involuntarily and blamed the justice system. He had
lived with his mother after he was released from prison
following a six year sentence for armed robbery. He expressed
both violent and erratic behavior, prompting her to have her
son evaluated. After undergoing a psychiatric evaluation, Brown was diagnosed
with schizophrenia, and his mother sought an involuntary commitment order.
According to state law, a defendant is considered incapable to
proceed at trial if they cannot comprehend the nature of
their charges, understand their role in court proceedings, or assist
in their own defense. Brown's attorneys argue that while he
remains in federal custody, a hearing to determine whether or
not he is competent cannot proceed. When a defendant is
deemed incompetent to stand trial, there is a move to
quote restore capacity, a process that also can't begin if
Brown remains in federal custody. To restore capacity, the defendant
is often treated with meds and therapy and treatment and whatnot,
and then once they are deemed to be competent, then
you can put them on trial. So that's where we are.
So a lot of people were screaming that, oh my gosh,
she's you know, he's been he's going to avoid trial
and all this. That is not what has occurred. This
was a motion filed based on the Psyche valve and
that's at the state level. The FED case takes priority.
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dot com. Another crime story, it's pretty unbelievable out of
Charlotte here. According to WBTV, a woman accused of hitting
a police officer with her car during a street takeover
back in March, was arrested for wait for it, running
over her former boyfriend foot with her car. She seems
to have a preferred mo here record show. Twenty five
year old Tenasa Austin was charged with assault with a
deadly weapon and the crime of domestic violence, and she
was released ten thousand dollars bond. She's out. Yeah. So
apparently she got into an argument with her former boyfriend
and as he tried to leave the home, she got
into her red Jeep Patriot and drove at him, running
over his foot. Police arrived shortly after and arre arrested her,
charged with assault with a deadly weapon and the crime
of domestic violence, and she made a court appearance on Monday.
She was allowed to keep her license, but they put
some restrictions on it, like you're only allowed to drive
between the hours of five point thirty in the morning
until six thirty at night. So apparently after six point
thirty she just starts running people over. I guess, but
she has to be able to do She has to
be able to drive because she has to take her
partner slash roommate to work and she has to go
for treatments for lupus. During the hearing, the Trump appeared
upset that Austin was improperly screened under the newly passed
Arena's Law, named after Arena Zerutzka, for an unrelated charge
relating to a street takeover. The law, which took effect
after the killing of Arena Zerutzka, makes it harder for
people charged with violent crimes to be released from jail
while waiting for trial. The judge said Austin was not
supposed to have been screened under the law. Oh so
it's not that somebody was screening her and that like
they were not doing what they were supposed to do.
This judge is saying. And I don't know which judge
this is, but the judge was mad that this person
was screened. She literally tried to run over a cop.
It's on video. It went viral, and she was released
for that, allowed to continue to stalk people in her vehicle.
Three twenty five am Sunday, March one, at the Harris
Teeter on Smith Farm Road. There was one of these
street takeovers, you know, where all these people they all
say in text messages and whatnot, they set a meetup
and they all show up and then they drive around.
They do burnouts and stuff and play loud music and
all of this. In The affidavit states that an officer
moved in front of the vehicle. Austin then began to
accelerate rapidly and struck the officer, causing him to roll
over the hood of the vehicle. He was taken to
a hospital for treatment of minor injuries. Again, there was
video of this. It went viral. She was charged with
assault with a deadly weapon on emergency personnel and indicted
by a grand jury. She faced three charges. As of
April sixth a separate magistrate reportedly faced disciplinary action for
the screening. It was unclear how the screening affected the
new charges. Though I'm not really sure what's going on there.
Joe Bruno from WSOCTV. He had this write up. The
woman accused of hitting a CMPD officer with her car
during a street takeover and running over her now former
boyfriend's foot with a Jeep Patriot is out of jail.
Tanas Tanasa Austin was arrested on the assault with deadly
weapon domestic violence charges. She was out on bail for
the previous CMPD officer incident. Her bail for the CMPD
related charge was three thousand dollars that was set by
Judge Roderick Davis. Court paperwork noted the circumstances of the
arrest were similar to the other arrest. When Austin was
booked into the Mecklenburg County Jail late Thursday, she was
given no bond. Under normal circumstances, she would have been
doing court the next day, but this was good Friday.
There is a maximum forty eight hour hold for no
bond domestic violence cases before it has to be set
by a judge, and if that doesn't happen, the power
goes to a magistrate. Late Saturday, Magistrate Felicia Wilson set
Austin's bond at ten thousand dollars secured, which she posted
and then walked out. So the judge here named by
Joe Bruno is Judge Roy Wiggins. His name pops up
a lot, and he's the one who ordered her only
to be driving in the daylight. If you're going to
be running people over like you're going to do it
when the sun is up, Okay, there we go. That's
that's a crackdown on crime if I've ever seen one.
How many people does this woman need to run over
before we consider her to be a threat to the public. Seriously,
let me jump over to the uh m m m
m all right. That's from the last hour's topic. This
is from Jeff to Carlos Brown Junior's actions should be
further proof to the gun control crowd that you could
ban and confiscate every gun on the planet, but the
only way to stop a killer from killing is to
keep them off the street. They previously took his gun,
but he still managed to kill her anyway without it. Yeah,
he was a he did time. I think the charge
was fell in with a firearm. Yeah. Like, if people
are threats to the public by their recorded actions, then
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make memories that'll last a lifetime. You know me. I
am all about solutions, right, and so I bring to
you a piece from John Sanders at the John Locke
Foundation headline mandating statewide bail guidelines and background checks. This
was from October of twenty twenty five, obviously after the
murder of Arena Zarutzka, and while pointing out that passage
of Arena Law was a great first step, more needs
to be done. Two critical needs would be to implement
a statewide systematic bail guide right, so if people want
to bail out there should be a state wide systematic
guideline for that, and number two mandate that all magistrates
in North Carolina conduct a criminal background check of each
arrestee brought before them. I support both of these ideas,
so he outlines the current process that magistrates used to
set bail is often based on their own discretion, sometimes
with very little data. This process can lead to inconsistent
bail amounts, release of repeat violent offenders, and public safety concerns.
Some counties in North Carolina have policies in place regarding
bail ranges for certain felonies and misdemeanors, although they still
allow magistrates to use their discretion. I've gone over this
process before. The sitting Superior Court judge and chief district
judge are responsible for setting pre trial release policies for magistrates,
so long as they do not extend beyond the provisions
of the Eighth Amendment, which prohibits successive bail and fines,
as well as cruel and unusual punishments. So as you
might imagine, this process is problematic because the policies can
vary widely based on where you commit your crime and
where you're arrested. Right if you are in a conservative county,
you're probably going to get hit with stiffer bond amounts,
higher bond amounts versus Mecklenburg County. I recall the story
that now Congressman Tim Moore told me there was an
assault on a student at Belmont Abbey College and the
guy got arrested in Mecklinburg County, and as they crossed
over back into Gaston County, he started crying because he
thought he was going to Mecklenburg where he anticipated probably
that he was going to be released very quickly. Instead
he got brought back to where the crime occurred in
Gaston County. And no, they're going to throw the book
at you. So this again, these are choices the magistrates
are making, the superior and district judges are making. These
policies can vary widely. Also, there are a lot of
times vague enough to allow for broad discretion by the
magistrates who are setting the bond amounts. Now, magistrates will
tell you that their job is to set a bond
amount that will ensure the person shows up to court.
That's the point, and that is true. However, there is
a public safety component, right if you've got a guy
who has been charged with, you know, breaking into a
dorm room and raping somebody like that person by nature
of the charge is a threat to public safety, and
so they should have at minimum a very very large
bond that they have to come up with. Sometimes magistrates
they'll say they don't have time to conduct a criminal
background check. Sometimes they simply choose not to do so.
They should, but I'm not sure it's a requirement. In
many counties, a magistrate can set bail within just minutes
without even knowing whether the accused has a really violent
passed right. That knowledge gap can put victims and communities
at risk. Yeah, if you just pick somebody up on
this one charge and then you don't go and pull
their record to find, oh my gosh, this person had,
like to Carlos Brown Junior thirty three arrests, many of
them for violent crimes, maybe that should factor in as well.
Once again, at minimum a very high bond, so they
are unlikely then to bond out, that's the point. And
if they do bond out and don't show up to court,
then you go after them for the for the the
bail bond company would go after them, bring them in
and then you would be incarcerated until your court date.
He goes on to say, here North Carolina needs a
statewide systematic bail slash bond guide for magistrates and for
magistrates to consider each arrestees previous charges, arrests, and convictions
in making decisions. He says, yes, these background checks might
make the first appearance proceedings take longer, but that has
to be balanced against the social costs of not conducting
the background checks and therefore not getting the decisions correct.
And people ask why would they do this, why would
a magistrate do this right, Well, if they don't know
the background, they don't know the person's criminal record, and
you're just looking at this one case in isolation, then
that could be a reason why they let the person
go on a low bail because now the cash list
bail thing that's been thanks to Arena's Law, that's very
difficult to do now for these types of violent crimes.
The other is that there is a philosophy that a
lot of people on the left, and when you're in
a county like Mecklenburg that's completely controlled by Democrats, you
have more people of this mindset that are eligible for
these posts because they're going to know people that get
them hired and all of that stuff. And so there
is a decarceration ideology that permeates the left, and you
hear them talk about is the defund the police stuff.
I mean, we've had candidates running for office that are
against incarceration. They say it's you know, it's it's slavery,
it's white supremacy and all this. So they want to decarcerate.
And you cannot have people of that ideology making these
types of decisions. You just can't. There's a judge on
the bench right now who is an advocate for decarceration.
She won the election in the primary. I don't know
how that's not disqualifying, but you know, in Democrat controlled jurisdictions,
this is what we get. All right. If you're listening
to this show, you know I try to keep up
with all sorts of current events, and I know you
do too, and you've probably heard me say get your
news from multiple sources. Why Well, because it's how you
detect media bias, which is why I've been so impressed
with ground News. It's an app and it's a website,
and it combines news from around the world in one place,
so you can compare coverage and verify information. You can
check it out at check dot ground, dot news slash pete.
I put the link in the podcast description too. I
started using ground News a few months ago and more
recently chose to work with them as an affiliate because
it lets me see clearly how stories get covered and
by whom. The blind spot feature shows you which stories
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but it also supports ground News as they make the
media landscape more transparent. From the text line, I got
a question basically, can somebody be found guilty or not guilty? Sorry,
not guilty by reason of insanity? And yes? In North
Carolina if like de Carlos Brown Junior's defense proves that
he was incapable of distinguishing right from wrong or understanding
the nature of his actions, and that was due to
a mental disease or defect. But there's a high legal threshold.
According to the Interweb, North Carolina places the burden of
proof on the defendant to establish insanity by clear and
convincing evidence that is higher than the preponderance of evidence. Right.
Preponderance of evidence is basically fifty percent. Could go either way.
You're you know, it's like, well, that's the civil standard
preponderance of evidence fifty percent plus one. So whichever way
you lean more towards that's enough. Criminal is beyond a
reasonable doubt. Some people think it's beyond a shadow of
a doubt. That's not true. It's beyond a reasonable doubt.
And that's a higher standard than preponderance. This is an
even higher standard has to establish insanity by clear and
convincing evidence. Okay, So that means it's very difficult to
actually get that kind of a verdict. And according to
the search results here in North Carolina, these types of
verdicts not guilty by reason of insanity only occur in
about zero point two to three percent of felony prosecutions
point two three. Now, I think probably part of that
is that you do these competency hearings prior to the trial, right,
and that may weed out a lot of these a
lot of cases where this could be in question where
they won't go to trial, they'll take a plea agreement
or something like that. But anyway, so that's what the
AI powered Google Results, not Google Brave. Actually, I think
their AI is called Leo. Then there's this out of Florida.
Governor Ron DeSantis signed into law this week a measure
that gives the state the power to label certain groups
as terrorist organizations and then that allows them to dissolve
their nonprofit status. It also prohibits public schools and universities
from funding educational programs that the state claims promotes terrorism,
and requires them to expel students who show in a
disruptive or disorderly manner their support for a state designated
terrorist group's extra legal violence. So this is obviously aimed
at the Tenttifada. Right. The new law drafted by the
governor's staff also makes it a felony for anybody to
provide material support to a state designated terrorist organization. Right,
So you have this designation at the federal level, and
so Florida has opted to give itself this power at
the state level as well. Desanta says, we don't want
money flowing to these groups that are appendedes of terrorist groups,
and he specifically called out the Muslim Brotherhood and the
Council on American Islamic Relations as groups that are likely
to be first targeted by the new law. Critics say
the law is draconian, that it's islamophobic, as you might
imagine that's going to stifle free speech. DeSantis also mentioned
two non Islamic groups as potential targets, like Antifa as
well as Trende Aragua. The new law also sent alarm
bells through Florida's Muslim community because it specifically references Sharia law,
and it could bar private schools from receiving vouchers if
the state deems they are affiliated with these groups. Students
use vouchers to pay tuition at like twenty five hundred campuses,
but only a tiny fraction of these schools, less than
one percent are Islamic, most are Christian. According to the
story at The Sun Sentinel, the law could also chill
free speech by placing pressure on individuals to avoid speaking, organizing,
or engaging in certain viewpoints. According to the ACLU, DeSantis
acknowledged that civil rights groups will probably sue, but he
said we will win on appeal, and then he called
I loved this line. He called CARE Council on American
Islamic Relations an unindicted co conspirator in terrorist activities, a
charge the group denies. However, if you go back to
twenty ten, the Investigative Project on Terrorism, Assistant Attorney General
Ronald Wyke sent a letter to Congress to four members
of Congress who had asked him for details. One of
those members of Congress, by the way, was our own
SIU Myrick, who was asking how CARE was named an
unindicted co conspirator in the terrorism Findingancing trial against the
Holy Land Foundation. He said, trial transcripts and exhibits demonstrated
a relationship among CARE, individual CARE founders, and a thing
called the Palestine Committee. Evidence was also introduced that demonstrated
a relationship between the Palestine Commity Committee and HAMAS, also
a designated terrorist organization. HAMAS is an offshoot of the
Muslim Brotherhood, and the trial exhibits show that the Brotherhood
created the Palestine Committee. So this is why they are
called with evidence, an unindicted co conspirator. But for some reason,
fifteen years later, we have so many people that are like,
that's not true. There's no evidence for that. Yes, there
was who was presented a trial. It's in the transcripts.
All right, that'll do it for this episode. Thank you
so much for listening. I could not do the show
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