RALEIGH — Lawmakers on the House Oversight and Reform Committee grilled Mecklenburg Sheriff Garry McFadden during a hearing on public safety in Charlotte on Monday.
The hearing lasted nearly six hours minus an hour lunch break, and the questioning of McFadden took up almost two and a half hours. The hearing was originally scheduled for Jan. 29 but was postponed while waiting on clarification of a federal court order limiting lawmakers from making public any materials obtained in the Iryna Zarutska murder case.
“Each of you called here today for one reason. Incompetence,” Committee Chairman Rep. Brenden Jones (R-Columbus) said in his opening remarks. “Incompetence in the law, incompetence in running jails, incompetence of handling crime and, most notably, incompetence in keeping the citizens of Mecklenburg County safe. That is, to be frank, completely unacceptable.”
The chairman also mentioned the August 2025 murder of Iryna Zartutska, saying, “Her life was cut short not by one individual but by a system that allowed career criminals to roam your streets who had 14 arrests.”
Without naming names, Jones criticized “a system that prioritized DEI initiatives over armed security guards on cats. Her blood is on your hands.”
“The core function of government is not DEI, trans rights, the welfare benefits for illegal aliens or some new social justice program,” said Jones. “The core function is public order, safety, security.”
Called to testify before the committee were Mecklenburg District Attorney Spencer Merriwether. McFadden, Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles, City Manager Marcus Jones, Charlotte Police Chief Estella Patterson and Brent Cagle, the interim CEO of the Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS), who did not end up testifying.
Questioning of Merriweather was productive, with initial discussions centering on what was characterized as the city’s “serious homicide backlog” but also the need for more prosecutorial help, handling offenders with mental health issues, as well as dealing with violent and recidivist juveniles.
“Four years ago, we were at a place where there are over 400 homicides that were pending,” Merriweather told the committee. “We have reduced that by 100 even though the number of homicides has actually gone up … continued to rise significantly. We had 120 homicides that were filed just last year. Right now, we are under 300.”
When asked about need for more resources, Merriweather said that for the 1.2 million people living in Charlotte, they need more help with indigent services and noted the city provides roughly $8 million for positions in his office in addition to what the state funds for prosecutors.
“For juvenile offenders, I believe it is trending slightly down,” Merriweather told lawmakers on crime rates. “But the seriousness that we are seeing for the people who are recommitting remains high.”
Merriweather also praised Iryna’s Law, named after Zarutska, as having “good improvements” in it related to pretrial proceedings.
After various lawmakers questioned Merriweather, the committee turned to McFadden, with Jones characterized as dealing with “the elephant in the room.”
Jones asked McFadden a question involving an accusation contained in a petition to remove him from office filed in January. A judge dismissed the petition in mid-January, but it can be refiled and Merriweather can act on it pending the SBI’s determinations.
“Did you ever order, approve or have knowledge of own duties, deputies transporting individuals to bars and strip clubs? Yes or no?” Jones asked.
McFadden responded, “I cannot answer certain questions to this petition.”
He went on to note Rep. Carla Cunningham (D-Mecklenburg), who was one of the individuals who filed the petition, was a member of the committee. He also didn’t want to interfere in “the process” of the State Bureau of Investigation’s probe into the accusations against him.
Jones followed up with a hypothetical question, asking McFadden, “Have you ever threatened to extort, physically extort a sitting member of this body?”
“I will refer to my statement,” replied McFadden.
Jones shot back, “Are you calling Rep. Cunningham a liar?”
McFadden quickly replied, “Then again, we’ll refer to my statement.”
Jones then pressed McFadden on comments he made during a debate regarding Iryna’s Law.
“In your most recent sheriff debate, you called the law ‘a mistake’ and that it ‘has done no good.’ Do you still stand by those statements,” Jones asked.
“Today in answering that question, I do stand by my statement, and I believe that you’re taking a sound bite from a debate that I was debating with another person talking about the jail, the conditions and everything else,” McFadden said.
McFadden repeatedly made statements that he and other sheriffs should be part of the “chain of command” when it came to lawmakers writing bills involving law enforcement.
McFadden also claimed House Bill 10, which closed loopholes McFadden had been accused of exploiting when it came to cooperating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), was flawed. McFadden reasoned House Bill 10 had to be flawed because a second bill, House Bill 318, had been filed.
House Bill 318, the Criminal Illegal Alien Enforcement Act, became law last year after the General Assembly overrode Gov. Josh Stein’s veto.
After the hearing concluded, House Speaker Destin Hall (R-Granite Falls) responded to McFadden’s claims about House Bill 318.
“I’ll be blunt. I sponsored H.B. 318 because Sheriff McFadden repeatedly refused to cooperate with ICE and turned Charlotte into a sanctuary for illegal aliens,” Hall wrote in a post on X that contained a related clip from the hearing. “Someone tell him it’s his job to enforce the law, not interpret it.”
McFadden was questioned on about cooperation with federal immigration authorities on issues like detainers placed on illegal aliens.
McFadden denied accusations and multiple times claimed, “We have always followed the law in notifying ICE.” The Mecklenburg sheriff also called the attention to his office’s activities surrounding ICE a “political move.”
“Can you explain to me how Sheriff Rowe, here in Wake County, puts forth a good faith effort… near the same number of ICE detainers issued… managed to have a 65% ICE pickup rate while you have an absurd 16%?” Jones asked, previously referring to various emails obtained on the subject.
“I can’t speak for Sheriff (Willie) Rowe and his policies or how what he’s doing. Many sheriffs in North Carolina do it differently. I do it by the law,” replied McFadden.
Several times, McFadden referred to himself in third person when responding and would often pivot in his answers to praise he said he’s received, as well as how he is the “first black sheriff” of Mecklenburg County.
“You can compare me to any other sheriff’s office in North Carolina. No sheriff’s office has my resume,” McFadden said.
McFadden, a Democrat, has three primary challengers: Rodney Collins, Antwain Nance and Ricky Robbins.
During her questioning, Cunningham asked McFadden about 21 inmate deaths in his jail and if more inspectors were needed. McFadden said more would help, but then went on the defensive, claiming an inspector had “lied” in his report.
When pressed on the matter, McFadden refused to answer further and referred to the investigation into the petition against him, but said, “people die every day” while making an analogy between his jail and a hospital in terms of care.
When Rep. Allen Chesser (R-Nash) asked McFadden what branch of government his office fell under, McFadden guessed incorrectly.
“Are you aware of how many branches of government there are?” Chesser said in a follow-up, to which McFadden responded with, “No.”
The Mecklenburg Republican Party called on McFadden to resign after the exchange with Chesser.
At one point, McFadden was also accused of not turning over all records requested by the committee. Jones produced an opinion article written by McFadden in which he cited three emails he sent to ICE, followed by asking the sheriff why those emails were not turned over.
McFadden didn’t take personal responsibility for the missing documents, stating, “We made a mistake,” and blaming the committee for asking for “a lot of information at the last hour.”
“So you failed to produce to this committee those emails?” Jones pressed, to which McFadden replied, “Not knowingly.”
Jones continued, “Oversight, right? Not your fault.”
“It is our mistake,” replied McFadden.
Throughout the hearing, Jones used the phrase “not my fault,” which is a reference to the “Not my fault McFadden” nickname given to him by critics.
After a lunch break, Patterson, Lyles, and Jones were sworn in.
Patterson received praise from the committee for her past work as Raleigh’s police chief and was asked what she needed to fill vacancies, as well as addressing violent crime in Charlotte.
“I think that people think Charlotte is an unsafe city, although our numbers show otherwise,” Patterson told the committee.
The most recent crime statistics released by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department shows a 9% drop in overall crime in 2025, violent crime down by 21% and property crime decreasing by 6%. Additionally, compared to 2024, the 2025 data showed robberies declining 24%, aggravated assaults down 20% and homicides dropped 13%.
Patterson said raising pay would help reduce vacancies but also finding the money to allow officers to have a “take home car” like other agencies in the state allow.
When asked by Cunningham what she thought about the recent increasing disrespect towards ICE agents and other federal officers, Patterson said she didn’t agree with it
“I wouldn’t condone,” said Patterson. “I don’t think it’s right to heckle, to interfere or to intervene in the work that the lawful work that police officers and law enforcement is doing.”
Questions directed to Lyles dealt with how the city was managing security for large events.
Rep. Brian Echevarria (R-Cabarrus) asked about Lyles’ $250 million “Racial Equity Initiatives” and how that money was being spent in specific areas while other neighborhoods felt unsafe. Of that total, $100 million is funded by taxpayers.
The city manager responded the initiative was focused on “corridors of opportunity,” which he said were “six areas in our city that have historically been underfunded.” He added, “We believe that that $100 million is a good investment. Most of it’s in infrastructure.”
In closing out the hearing, Jones said Charlotte as a city was doing a good job, but the county has serious budget issues.
View Part One and Part Two of the hearing on YouTube.
