Iryna Zarutska’s boyfriend slams judge who let Chicago train burning suspect free despite 72 arrests
The boyfriend of a young Ukrainian refugee stabbed to death by a schizophrenic repeat offender on board a train has hit out at a judge who let a violent suspect with multiple convictions walk free before he allegedly set fire to a woman on public transportation in Chicago.
Stanislav Nikulytsia drew direct parallels between the horrific murder of his girlfriend, Iryna Zarutska, 23, in Charlotte, NC, in August, and the sickening attack on Bethany MaGee on the L train on Nov. 17.
“72 prior arrests sounds like a joke. I guess 72 times was not enough to understand who he is,” Nikulytsia said in his Instagram story, sharing a local article about the Chicago attack.
“Why they always wait for them to do something like that to start doing something to prevent it,” he added.
Zarutska, who had fled the war in her home country in 2022 to come to the US, was fatally stabbed on board a train while coming home from work.
Decarlos Brown, a career criminal with 14 previous arrests, was arrested and charged with her murder shortly afterward.
Brown was freed on cashless bail in January by Magistrate Judge Teresa Stokes with a “written promise” to appear at a future court date.
Nikulytsia, who was described as Zarutska’s “life partner” in her obituary, also shared a link to a video of a conservative influencer accusing “horrible” judges of pushing people toward vigilantism.
In Chicago, deranged convict Lawrence Reed, 50, allegedly doused MaGee with gasoline and set her ablaze.
He had been released in August in a separate assault case by Cook County Judge Teresa Molina-Gonzalez, despite allegedly slapping a social worker so hard she was knocked out.
Reed was placed under electronic monitoring, which was deemed “wholly insufficient” by prosecutor Jerrilyn Gumila.
But despite that, the judge insisted she couldn’t lock him up.
“I understand your position, but I can’t keep everybody in jail because the state’s attorney wants me to, but I understand and respect your position,” she told Gumila at the time.
