The murder case against Decarlos Brown Jr. is expected to stall until a court decides he is competent to stand trial after a state psychiatric facility found he cannot proceed. Brown was evaluated at Central Regional Hospital, and a report dated Dec. 29, 2025, concluded he was incapable of proceeding, according to a motion filed Tuesday by his public defender.
The filing also asks a judge to continue the case for 180 days and to push back by the same period a separate hearing on whether prosecutors will seek the death penalty. Brown is accused of stabbing 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska on a Charlotte light rail at the end of August.
A judge still must decide whether to accept the hospital’s findings. If the court does, the state murder case will remain on hold until Brown’s capacity is restored. That process in North Carolina can take a long time because psychiatric facilities have limited space, and some defendants wait more than a year for a bed to open.
Brown’s lawyer said the required capacity hearing cannot move forward while Brown remains in federal custody in Chicago, where he is being held in a separate case. The attorney also argued the court cannot order restoration of Brown’s competency while he is in federal custody. The Mecklenburg County District Attorney’s Office agreed to the continuance.
The federal case has moved on its own track. Brown was indicted by a grand jury on Wednesday, Oct. 22, for violence against a railroad carrier and mass transportation system resulting in death, and court filings from March 6 showed his federal psychiatric examination was still not complete and the evaluation period had been extended. Several attorneys have noted that it is extremely rare for a defendant to go through mental health evaluation and competency proceedings in state and federal court at the same time. For Brown, that unusual overlap is now the reason both cases are backing up at once.
