Federal case in Charlotte light rail killing delayed after hearing

The federal case against Decarlos Brown Jr. will be put on hold after a judge agreed Tuesday that Brown is not competent to stand trial in connection with the 2025 killing of Iryna Zarutska on Charlotte’s light rail line.

Brown will remain in federal custody, where he will face medical treatment designed to restore his competency for legal proceedings.

Brown’s lawyers had asked US District Judge Kenneth Bell to find Brown incompetent to proceed in the federal case. US Attorney Russ Ferguson’s office had agreed with the request to hold a competency hearing.

Proceedings in the state murder case against Brown already have been delayed for six months after he was found “incapable to proceed” in court. The next state hearing for Brown is now scheduled for Oct. 27.

Brown’s lawyers filed a motion in federal court in May seeking a competency hearing.

“DeCarlos Brown suffers from serious mental illness and impairments,” his lawyers wrote. “Our Constitution requires that, before he can be tried, or possibly sentenced to death, he must first be capable of proceeding in his criminal case. Now, federal examiners with the Department of Justice-Bureau of Prisons have determined that Mr. Brown’s mental illness and impairments make him currently incapable of proceeding in his federal criminal case. This Court should now set a hearing, find Mr. Brown incompetent, and remand him into the custody of the Attorney General for secure hospitalization and treatment.”

Federal mental health examiners in the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Prisons have determined that Brown “is not competent to proceed” in his federal case because he “has a mental illness … and a mental defect,” “does not have a factual understanding of the legal system or his legal situation because of his mental illness, “cannot make rational case-related decisions because of his mental illness,” and “cannot work with his defense attorneys because of his mental illness.”

The court filing described Brown’s illness.

“For years, Mr. Brown has suffered from debilitating mental illness and impairment,” his lawyers wrote. “He experiences delusions that center around his belief that he was exposed to a Material and it ‘control[s] his every movement.’ He refers to it as his Body Emergency. The delusions are constant and persistent.”

Brown’s lawyers blamed a “broken mental health and criminal justice system” for his failure to get help for his illness.

A finding of incompetence “does not end the case; a finding of incompetence to proceed is simply a snapshot, meaning at this time the defendant cannot understand the nature and consequences of the proceedings against him or assist properly in his defense,” lawyers in Ferguson’s office wrote in May. “If the Court makes this determination, the governing statute requires the Court to order competency restoration, which may include medication to assist Defendant in restoring his competency. In Defendant’s case, the Bureau of Prisons (‘BOP’) has concluded that Defendant’s prognosis to become competent to proceed is good with restoration and treatment.”

Ferguson’s court filing explained the next steps for Brown if he is found incompetent.

“If the Court were to find Brown incompetent to proceed at this moment, Brown would be moved to a specialized BOP facility that provides medical treatment to restore his competency,” the US attorney’s lawyers wrote. “Once availability at the specialized BOP facility is confirmed and Brown is securely transported to the facility, he would undergo medical treatment for a period of time not to exceed four months.”

“While receiving treatment at the BOP facility, Brown may be provided medication to restore his competency, including forced medication if necessary, consistent with constitutional safeguards,” the court filing explained.

Brown is charged with fatally stabbing the 23-year-old Zarutska in the neck on Aug. 22, 2025, on Charlotte’s Lynx Blue Line.

A Dec. 29 report from Central Regional Hospital found Brown was incapable of proceeding in the state murder case, prompting his public defender to file an April 7 motion asking the court to continue the case and delay an April 30 hearing for six months, to allow more time for further evaluation, which the Mecklenburg County District Attorney’s office agreed to.

Surveillance video shows Zarutska, a Ukrainian refugee, entering the light rail, taking a seat in front of Brown, and listening to music. Roughly four minutes later, the video 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 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.

The federal charge of violence against a railroad carrier and mass transportation system resulting in death carries the possibility of life in prison or the death penalty.

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.

The 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.

“Federal case in Charlotte light rail killing delayed after hearing” was originally published on www.carolinajournal.com.