A legislative committee on mental health plans to meet Wednesday for the first time since lawmakers demanded more information about the death of a Raleigh teacher and asked why her alleged killer was on the streets.
Legislators last week asked the House Select Committee on Involuntary Commitment and Public Safety to look into how judicial officials handled Ryan Camacho, who is charged with murder in the Jan. 3 death of Ravenscroft teacher Zoe Welsh at her Raleigh home.
Camacho has a documented history of mental illness. When he faced breaking-and-entering charges in a separate incident last year, prosecutors asked during that hearing to have Camacho committed to a mental hospital — a request that was denied by Wake County Judge Louis Meyer.
“How could a person who was found to not be competent to proceed to trial … be released not involuntarily committed, even at the request of the district attorney?” Republican state Reps. Erin Paré and Mike Schietzelt of Wake County wrote in a letter to committee members.
Meyer hasn’t responded to a WRAL’s requests for comment. A lawyer for Camacho didn’t respond to a request for comment on Tuesday. She has previously declined to comment.
The committee plans to track down the requested information, said state Rep. Tim Reeder, a Pitt County Republican and physician who co-chairs the committee. Reeder previously told WRAL that he’s not sure if the findings of the Camacho case will be shared during a committee meeting.
The committee is scheduled to hear presentations on outpatient commitments, wherein mental health patients can receive treatment in the community instead of being committed involuntarily to a hospital. Committee members are interested in methods for treating people with mental illness in ways that don’t involve stays in psychiatric facilities, Reeder said.
A Duke University professor is scheduled to discuss the effectiveness of outpatient commitments and the chief psychiatrist for the state’s Department of Health and Human Services is expected to discuss the department’s recommendations for potentially expanding the practice.
Reeder said committee members want to know more about outpatient commitments: “Is that another tool we may have available?” he said.
North Carolina legislators turned their attention to the state’s procedures for handling people with mental illness following the August death of Iryna Zarutska, a 23-year-old Ukrainian who moved to Charlotte in 2022 and was fatally stabbed on a city train. The General Assembly passed the new mental health procedures as part of a larger judicial reform package titled, “Iryna’s Law.”
Zarutska’s accused killer, DeCarlos Brown Jr., had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and suffered hallucinations and paranoia that his family hoped to find treatment for, his sister told CNN. Some of the changes Iryna’s Law made to the rules around involuntary commitment, however, have been put on hold while legislators consider tweaks to the law.