Brown found ‘incapable to proceed’ on Iryna Zarutska murder charge

Decarlos Brown Jr., the man who allegedly fatally stabbed 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska in the neck on Aug. 22 on Charlotte’s Lynx Blue Line, has been found “incapable to proceed” on the state murder charge against him.

A Dec. 29 report from Central Regional Hospital found he was incapable of proceeding, prompting his public defender to file a motion on Tuesday asking the court to continue the case and delay the Rule 24 hearing, scheduled for April 30, for six months, to allow more time for further evaluation, which the Mecklenburg County District Attorney’s office agreed to. The hearing had already been postponed.

Surveillance video obtained by WBTV shows Zarutska, a Ukrainian refugee, entering the light rail, taking a seat in front of Brown, and listening to music. Roughly four minutes later, Brown, 34, appears to show Brown stabbing her in the neck three times. 

Brown, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia, had been previously arrested 14 times, including for felonies.

In January of 2025, he was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of misusing 911. But he was released on bond by Magistrate Teresa Stokes after he signed a written note promising to appear at his next court hearing.

According to WBTV, Brown is currently in federal custody in Chicago after he was indicted  by a grand jury in October for violence against a railroad carrier and mass transportation system resulting in death.

The motion by Brown’s attorney stated that the court capacity hearing cannot take place, and the court cannot order the restoration of his capacity while in federal custody.

The federal charge carries the possibility of life in prison or the death penalty.

The state auditor’s office has opened an inquiry into the transit authority, citing the incident as evidence of lax oversight and security at the Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS).

An affidavit that accompanied the federal complaint said that on Aug. 22, Brown boarded the southbound LYNX Blue Line at Woodlawn Station. Surveillance video captured Brown pulling out a folding knife and stabbing Zarutska, who was seated in front of him, multiple times “without provocation,” as passengers fled the train. The affidavit says Brown exited at the next stop and was apprehended on the station platform minutes later. Police took him into custody and transported him to a local hospital for treatment of a hand injury before booking him into the Mecklenburg County Detention Center. Because the killing occurred aboard a federally funded public-transportation system, prosecutors charged Brown under 18 U.S.C. § 1992, which allows for life imprisonment or the death penalty.

At a field hearing of the US House Judiciary Committee in Charlotte on Sept. 29, victims’ families and law-enforcement officers sharply criticized the local justice system, pointing to the Aug. 22 murder of Iryna Zarutska as emblematic of a wider breakdown. According to the hearing transcript, a police officer testified, “The judicial system here in Mecklenburg County… is trash… The magistrate system … has no idea what they are doing.”

The indictment and surrounding case prompted Iryna’s Law, enacted by the North Carolina General Assembly and signed into state law on Oct. 3, 2025. Formally House Bill 307, it overhauls parts of North Carolina’s criminal-justice system by tightening bail and pretrial rules for violent offenders and adding new safeguards for public safety.

The law ends most forms of cash-free bail in serious cases, requires judges to review a defendant’s criminal history before setting release conditions, and mandates mental health evaluations when a suspect shows signs of instability or danger. It also limits death penalty appeals and classifies crimes committed on public transit as an aggravating factor in sentencing.

“Brown found ‘incapable to proceed’ on Iryna Zarutska murder charge” was originally published on www.carolinajournal.com.