The suspect accused of murdering 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska on a light rail train in Charlotte, North Carolina, last August has been deemed unfit to stand trial.
In September, 34-year-old Decarlos Brown Jr. was transferred from prison to a psychiatric hospital for a court-ordered mental competency evaluation to determine his mental fitness to stand trial. WBTV reported that, according to a motion filed April 7, Brown was evaluated at Central Regional Hospital and a report dated December 29, 2025, determined he was “incapable to proceed.”
The results of the psych evaluation had been sealed prior to the motion, in which Brown’s attorney requested the court delay his competency hearing by 180 days, being filed. According to the court filing, prosecutors did not object to the rescheduling of the hearing that had been previously set for April 30.
On August 22 just before 9:45pm, surveillance footage showed Zarutska taking a seat on the train one row ahead of Brown following a shift at a local pizzeria. Minutes later, the assailant took a knife from his pocket, stood up, and began stabbing the victim repeatedly. Zarutska died from the injuries at the scene.
Brown, who had a lengthy rap sheet and was well-known by law enforcement before allegedly killing Zarutska, is also facing federal charges. WBTV reported Brown was ordered to undergo a psychiatric examination as part of the federal case, but court filings from March 6 indicate it has not yet been completed.
It will now be up to a judge to determine whether to accept the report’s findings in the state prosecution. If a judge agrees Brown is incompetent to stand trial, The New York Post reported North Carolina state law mandates the charges against him be dismissed.
Megyn’s Take
On Wednesday’s show, Megyn reacted to the possibility Brown could go free as she questioned the revolving door of justice that led to Zarutska’s tragic murder. Below are her remarks, edited for length and clarity:
“The man who’s accused of butchering Irina Zarutska, the 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee on the Charlotte, North Carolina, light rail, has been found incompetent to stand trial. This is the ultimate insult.
He is obviously not mentally all there. That has been clear for years. Nonetheless, he has been allowed to rain terror down on the citizens of Charlotte for years as these far-left, woke judges have been sending him in and out of the courts like a revolving door with no thought for the safety of anyone, least of all Iryna.
Now that he took out a knife and killed someone in a video that has haunted us all, we have a [hospital] declare him incompetent to face the charges. This truly the ultimate f-you from a system that gave so many f-yous and that is directly responsible for what happened to poor Iryna on that train… This is so wrong.
It is so hard, by the way, to get a not guilty verdict at trial. If they would let him use an insanity defense, it is next to impossible to actually get a not guilty verdict. The instruction on it is next to impossible, and now this guy is going to get out of it all together. I feel like these same woke judges understood that and finally gave him the declaration he should have gotten long ago.
The summer before he killed her, there was a question about whether he would get tagged with this and they ordered a psych evaluation. It wasn’t done… He was sent back out into Charlotte, North Carolina, to hurt another person and he did. Now that he was actually going to have to face potential accountability, they finally give him an evaluation to say, ‘Oh, he’s incompetent to stand trial’… ‘Incapable to proceed’ is what they said in the state courts. Now a judge has to determine whether to accept the report’s finding.
Per North Carolina state law, a defendant is considered ‘incapable to proceed’ if he cannot comprehend the nature of the charges, understand his role in the court proceedings, or assist in his defense. To restore capacity, a defendant is often treated with medication and other treatment in order to get him deemed competent. We’ll see whether they do any of that.
His mother told The New York Post that he is schizophrenic, saying she struggled to have him committed a long time ago and blamed the justice system. He had been arrested 33 times. He had been criminally charged on 14 of those occasions. He was free on cashless bail after a magistrate released him with a written promise to show up for court after placing a bogus 911 call. That is when he killed Iryna.
And you know what? I believe every word that she says – that she did try to have him committed and that this system said they had no interest. These blue-run cities, the Democrat-run cities find institutionalization inhumane. They rather the Irynas of the world get killed and then this guy could wind up with his body in the electric chair. How is that humane? When you allow these people to run around murdering people, it doesn’t end well for them either. Institutionalization is the kinder, gentler option.
He was charged federally, in addition to at the state level. There is some promising news in that the U.S. attorney for this district in Charlotte said that this man, Decarlos Brown, is in federal custody on a federal indictment. The state proceedings, including any competency finding in the state proceedings, are completely separate. So, it certainly sounds like the federal government is not going to just sit by and let this guy get any sort of a pass, though these same evaluations will have to happen at the federal level. He has been ordered to undergo a psychiatric examination as part of the federal court case… so we’ll see whether we can get a better result at the federal level.
If this guy was fine to be put back out on the streets after that bogus 911 call not even a year ago, he should be fine to stand trial. I mean, come on. This is not somebody who was obviously incompetent to the point where they had to lock him up immediately back last summer. So, what happened? Maybe we need to test the assertions of incompetence a little bit more robustly.”
You can check out Megyn’s full analysis by tuning in to episode 1,292 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s The Megyn Kelly Channel (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.