{"id":190046,"date":"2026-04-08T21:08:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T21:08:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/190046\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T21:08:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T21:08:13","slug":"iryna-zarutskas-accused-killer-decarlos-brown-jr-found-incompetent-in-charlotte-stabbing-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/190046\/","title":{"rendered":"Iryna Zarutska\u2019s accused killer Decarlos Brown Jr. found incompetent in Charlotte stabbing trial"},"content":{"rendered":"

The deranged homeless man accused of savagely butchering Iryna Zarutska<\/a>, a 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee, on a Charlotte light rail train has been found \u201cincapable to proceed\u201d on state murder charges.<\/p>\n

According to a motion filed April 7, Decarlos Brown Jr. was evaluated Dec. 29 at Central Regional Hospital, and the subsequent report determined he was not competent to stand trial, according to WBTV.<\/p>\n

The results were previously sealed in state court, and were only revealed as the motion was filed.<\/p>\n

\"IrynaDecarlos Brown Jr. allegedly killed Iryna Zarutska on a Charlotte light rail train. Instagram\/ Iryna Zarutska<\/p>\n

A judge must now determine whether to accept the report\u2019s findings, and the case against him will likely be delayed until his capacity is determined to be \u201crestored\u201d by the court, the station reported.<\/p>\n

In the motion filed by Brown\u2019s public defender, he claimed the court-required capacity hearing cannot take place with the accused killer in federal custody, and that the court also can\u2019t order to have his capacity restored.<\/p>\n

Brown has been in federal custody in Chicago since a grand jury indicted him on Oct. 22 for violence against a railroad carrier and mass transportation system causing death.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s been ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation pursuant to his federal case, but court filings viewed by the outlet last month show it hasn\u2019t been completed and that the evaluation period has been extended.<\/p>\n

The outlet reports that restoring competency can take a long time in North Carolina because of limited space in state psychiatric facilities, and said it\u2019s not uncommon for defendants to wait a year or more for a bed to open up.<\/p>\n

Brown, 35, whose mother told The Post is schizophrenic, was arrested at least 14 times<\/a> in North Carolina for crimes ranging from assault and firearms possession to felony robbery dating back to 2007.<\/p>\n

\"BookingBrown Jr. was found \u201cincapable to proceed\u201d on state murder charges for the brutal slaying. AP<\/p>\n

At the time of the senseless attack in late August, he was free on cashless bail<\/a> after a magistrate released him with a \u201cwritten promise\u201d to show up for court after placing a bogus 911 call.<\/p>\n

The horrifying caught-on-camera slaying became national news, and prompted President Trump to call for Brown to face the death penalty on federal murder charges.<\/p>\n

Two months after the attack, North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein signed \u201cIryna\u2019s Law,<\/a>\u201d which prevents cashless bail for some violent crimes and repeat offenders and improves checks on criminals released on bail.<\/p>\n

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In the video, Brown is seen seated on the train before Zarutska boards and unknowingly takes the seat in front of him, her blonde locks tucked beneath a black baseball cap from Zepeddie\u2019s Pizza, part of her work uniform.<\/p>\n

As she busies herself with her phone, completely unaware of the danger lurking inches behind her, Brown unfolds a pocket knife before looming over her and brutally stabbing her several times in the neck in the cowardly sneak attack.<\/p>\n

Zarutska\u2019s face contorted into a haunting look of horror<\/a> as she bled out on the train. Bystanders barely seemed to notice the horrifying scene \u2014 and no one stepped up to render aid.<\/p>\n

After the stabbing, Brown can be seen meandering through the Lynx Blue Line train as a trail of blood drops forms behind him. He was arrested at the scene a short time later.<\/p>\n

During a welfare check last January, Brown asked cops to investigate a \u201cman-made material\u201d inside his body that was controlling his actions, according to an affidavit obtained by the Charlotte Observer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The deranged homeless man accused of savagely butchering Iryna Zarutska, a 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee, on a Charlotte light…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":190047,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[4458,9,11,10,1064,2442,4721,58],"class_list":{"0":"post-190046","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-charlotte","9":"tag-new-york","10":"tag-new-york-headlines","11":"tag-new-york-news","12":"tag-north-carolina","13":"tag-stabbings","14":"tag-trials","15":"tag-us-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190046","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=190046"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190046\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/190047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=190046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=190046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=190046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}