A North Carolina state psychiatric facility concluded that Decarlos Brown Jr, the homeless man accused of murdering Iryna Zarutska, is incompetent to stand trial in the state’s case.
Stacey covered Zarutska’s murder:
Zarutska boarded the Charlotte (NC) Light Rail system on Friday, August 22nd, just before 10 pm after her shift at a local pizza restaurant, and four minutes later, she was stabbed to death in what police say was a random attack, allegedly by a violent repeat offender who is well known to local law enforcement.—The footage shows the suspect, 34-year-old Decarlos Brown Jr., in the moments leading up to the murder, Zarutska boarding the train and sitting directly in front of him, completely oblivious, of course, to what was about to happen, and in the moments after, where he’s seen walking to a train exit with blood dripping, presumably from the knife.
According to WBTV, professionals evaluated Brown at Central Regional Hospital and determined he was “incapable of proceeding” with the trial.
The judge still needs to accept the findings.
Brown’s public defender wants the court to continue the case, “specifically a hearing to determine whether the death penalty will be sought, for 180 days.”
Brown remains in federal custody in Chicago after a grand jury indicted him “for violence against a railroad carrier and mass transportation system resulting in death.”
It sounds like Zarutska won’t get justice soon:
In the court motion filed Tuesday, Brown’s attorney claimed that the court required capacity hearing cannot take place as long as Brown remains in federal custody. The attorney also argued that the court can’t order to restore Brown’s capacity while he’s in federal custody.According to the court filing, the Mecklenburg County District Attorney’s Office agreed with the case being continued.Brown has also been ordered to undergo a pyschiatric examination as part of his federal court case. However, court filings from March 6 indicate the examination isn’t completed and the evaluation period has been extended.Several attorneys noted it is extremely rare for a defendant to go through the mental health evaluation and competency process at state and federal court at the same time.Restoring a defendan’t competency can be an extremely lengthy process in North Carolina because of a lack of available space in psychiatric facilities. Some defendants can wait more than a year for a bed to open up in one of the state’s facilities.
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