CHARLOTTE, N.C. (Court TV) — A man accused of stabbing a woman to death on a commuter train last year has been found incompetent to stand trial.
Decarlos Brown Jr. faces state and federal charges after allegedly stabbing Iryna Zarutska on a train. (Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office)
Decarlos Brown Jr., 25, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Iryna Zarutska, 23, a Ukrainian refugee who was brutally stabbed to death in an unprovoked attack on a Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS) light rail train.
In a filing on Tuesday, Brown asked a judge to delay a pretrial hearing scheduled for later this month in his case. In the filing, Brown’s attorneys said that the defendant had been evaluated at Central Regional Hospital and deemed “incapable to proceed” in a report dated Dec. 29, 2025.
The filing also notes that after he was deemed incompetent, Brown was taken into federal custody. In the weeks after the stabbing, Brown was indicted on a federal charge of causing death on a mass transportation system, a charge that could carry a potential death sentence.
Brown’s attorneys said in the filing that because the defendant is in federal custody, no orders to “restore capacity” can be effectuated.
The filing indicates prosecutors have agreed to delay the case due to the circumstances.
Video from inside the CATS train shows the victim boarding the train on Aug. 22, 2025, and taking a seat in front of Brown. Minutes later, without any apparent provocation, Brown appears to pull out a knife and slash Zarutska in the neck.
Brown has a criminal history, including a conviction for robbery with a dangerous weapon.
