OUTRAGEOUS: Iryna Zarutska’s Killer Found Incompetent to Stand Trial

The deranged career criminal who violently stabbed Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska to death on the Charlotte light rail last year has just been deemed incompetent to stand trial.

Decarlos Brown Jr. was evaluated at a mental hospital and found “incapable to proceed” on the state murder charge he is facing.

Here are the details:

🚨 BREAKING: In an infuriating development, the killer of Iryna Zarutska was just found to be "INCAPABLE TO PROCEED" on the state m*rder charge, brought against DeCarlos Brown Jr.

UNBELIEVABLE!

This monster needs to be executed ASAP, NO EXCEPTIONS. pic.twitter.com/qJUHd5Guir

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) April 8, 2026

DeCarlos Brown Jr. found incompetent to proceed in the case against him for the murder of Ukrainian immigrant Iryna Zarutska.

There really is little justice in this world. pic.twitter.com/8vsh4GiuqY

— Paul A. Szypula 🇺🇸 (@Bubblebathgirl) April 8, 2026

Keep in mind that Decarlos Brown Jr. is facing both state and federal charges.

He is still in federal custody, but his attorney is asking the court to delay his trial for six months.

WCNC reported:

Court documents filed Tuesday, April 7 in Mecklenburg County Superior Court show that Decarlos Brown, who faces both state murder charges and a federal indictment carrying the possibility of the death penalty, was evaluated at Central Regional Hospital and found “incapable to proceed” in a report generated December 29, 2025.

Brown’s attorney, Daniel Roberts, filed a motion to continue a Rule 24 hearing — a proceeding used in capital-eligible cases — that had been scheduled for April 30. The motion requests the hearing be pushed back 180 days, citing Brown’s federal custody as a barrier to conducting the competency-related proceedings required under state law. The State has consented to the continuance.

“A capacity hearing is a ‘critical stage’ hearing that cannot currently take place while the defendant remains in federal custody for the parallel federal proceedings,” the motion states. It further notes that even if the court were to accept the hospital’s findings, any efforts to restore Brown’s competency could not be carried out while he is held federally.

Brown, 25, was charged with murder on August 23, 2025, one day after the killing of Iryna Zarutska on the CATS Blue Line. Zarutska had fled war-torn Ukraine seeking safety and was working at a Charlotte pizzeria while attending community college to improve her English. She was minutes from home when she was killed. Her family called her death “tragic and preventable.”

Brown was indicted on first-degree murder charges in Mecklenburg County Superior Court in September 2025. A federal grand jury separately indicted him in October on charges of violence against a mass transportation system resulting in death — a charge that carries special findings making him eligible for the death penalty.

What is likely to happen next is that Brown Jr. will be institutionalized at a mental hospital and re-evaluated at a later date.

Andy Ngo explained further:

DeCarlos Brown Jr., the man accused of brutally stabbing to death the young Ukrainian woman (Iryna Zarutska) on public transport last year in Charlotte, N.C., has had his murder state prosecution halted for now after the judge agreed with the medical evaluation that he is… pic.twitter.com/LP3Phax6YD

— Andy Ngo (@MrAndyNgo) April 8, 2026

DeCarlos Brown Jr., the man accused of brutally stabbing to death the young Ukrainian woman (Iryna Zarutska) on public transport last year in Charlotte, N.C., has had his murder state prosecution halted for now after the judge agreed with the medical evaluation that he is incompetent.

His federal case of committing an act of violence causing death on a mass transportation system has not been paused yet.

What typically happens after a criminal defendant is found incompetent is he or she goes to in an institution for a period of time for mental treatment. Future evaluations will determine if the defendant is fit to restart the pretrial process. Brown is currently in federal custody.

If he’s mentally incompetent now, he certainly has been for quite awhile — and yet, a judge let the lunatic loose back on the streets!

It’s too bad they didn’t throw this guy in a mental institution a long time ago…

You know, before he brutally murdered an innocent young woman.

If Brown is to incompetent now. He was incompetent before. The judge who let him out should be held accountable.

— Dixie Marie (@DixieMarie724) April 8, 2026

Brown Jr.’s federal murder charges are still pending, which could make him eligible for the death penalty, despite the state deeming him too incompetent to stand trial.

What do you think?

Should Decarlos Brown Jr. get the death penalty for the murder of Iryna Zarutska?