The man accused of fatally stabbing a 23-year-old woman on Charlotte’s light rail has been found incapable of standing trial.
In a court filing this week, a public defender for Decarlos Brown Jr. said doctors at Central Regional Hospital in Butner determined he is not competent to proceed.
Brown is charged in the August 2025 killing of Iryna Zaruska, a Ukrainian refugee who was attacked on the Blue Line. Gruesome footage of the murder was widely circulated following the killing, generating national outage including from the White House.
Prosecutors had planned to seek the death penalty in the case, but Brown’s defense team is now asking a judge to delay a hearing that would determine whether that can move forward.
That hearing, known as a Rule 24 proceeding, had been scheduled for later this month. The defense is requesting a six-month delay.
Brown’s family has said he was homeless and experiencing bipolar schizophrenia at the time of the stabbing. Brown is currently in federal custody in Chicago.
Brown's public defender, Daniel Roberts, did not immediately return requests for comment. A spokesperson for the Mecklenburg County District Attorney's Office also did not immediately return requests for comment.
