BREAKING: Mentally Ill Homeless Repeat Offender DeCarlos Brown Jr. Ruled ‘Incompetent to Stand Trial’ for Brutal Stabbing of Ukrainian Refugee Iryna Zarutska

DeCarlos Brown Jr., a 35-year-old homeless man with a long criminal history, has been ruled incompetent to proceed on state murder charges in the random stabbing of 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska on Charlotte’s Lynx Blue Line light rail last August.

Brown faces both state first-degree murder charges and federal charges for the August 22 attack.

On Tuesday, his state public defender filed a motion in Mecklenburg Superior Court saying that a court-ordered capacity evaluation found Brown “incapable to proceed.”

The evaluation was completed in December at Central Regional Hospital.

Mecklenburg District Attorney Spencer Merriweather’s office agreed to delay Brown’s Rule 24 hearing, where prosecutors would decide whether to seek the death penalty in the state case, for another six months.

The Charlotte Observer reports:

President Donald Trump has called for Brown to face the death penalty, but a de-facto moratorium has blocked executions in North Carolina for the last 20 years.

The Rule 24 hearing was previously delayed in order to give time for a capacity evaluation. That evaluation report was completed inside Central Regional Hospital on Dec. 29, Roberts wrote. But, even with the results ready, Brown cannot appear in state court.

He will remain in federal custody while his federal murder charge is pending, Roberts said in the motion.

He asked that the state hearing be paused for six months, and Mecklenburg District Attorney Spencer Merriweather’s prosecutors said they would be OK with that, Roberts wrote.

Brown remains in federal custody at this time.

Zarutska boarded the Lynx Blue Line light rail around 9:55 p.m. on August 22 and sat in the row in front of Brown.

Surveillance footage, which was publicly released, shows Brown pulling a knife from his pocket, unfolding it, and stabbing her three times from behind approximately four minutes later.

Brown then walked away as she lay dying, and many witnesses and bystanders just looked the other way.

Officers arrested him on the platform.

Brown is still facing federal charges, including one count of violence against a railroad carrier and mass transportation system resulting in death.

If convicted federally, he faces life in prison or the death penalty.

The indictment includes a Notice of Special Findings that could allow the U.S. to seek the death penalty.

Brown, who has been described as homeless and mentally ill, had 14 prior arrests and had served time in prison for armed robbery.

The killer was out on a cashless bond following a misdemeanor arrest for misusing the 911 system just months before the stabbing. His mother has said he suffered from schizophrenic delusions.

The case prompted the passage of “Iryna’s Law” in North Carolina, which aims to limit cashless bail for violent crimes and make it easier to involuntarily commit individuals in mental health crises.

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