DeCarlos Brown, 35 years old, is accused of stabbing Iryna Zarutska, 23 years old, to death as she was returning from work on a tram in Charlotte in August 2025. A murder that shocked America.
An individual accused of murdering a Ukrainian refugee in a case that sparked outrage in the United States, leading Donald Trump to demand the death penalty for him, has been declared mentally unfit to stand trial according to American media reports on Wednesday.
DeCarlos Brown, 35 years old, is accused of fatally stabbing Iryna Zarutska, 23 years old, as she was returning from work on a tram in Charlotte in the eastern part of the country in August 2025.
Local media sources, including WBTV, reported that psychiatrists deemed DeCarlos Brown to be “incapable” of facing trial, and his lawyer requested a postponement of the proceedings.
Trump was demanding “a swift trial”
The case had caused great emotional distress in the United States, especially among conservative circles. Donald Trump, referring to the presumed murderer as an “animal,” had called for “a swift trial” on his Truth Social network and demanded the death penalty for him. White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt, on the other hand, referred to DeCarlos Brown, a repeat offender who had already been previously convicted multiple times, as a “monster” who “should be locked up.”
Footage of the murder, captured by surveillance cameras, was widely circulated by conservative media and social media accounts to support Trump’s tough crime policy.
Since returning to power over a year ago, the American president has sent or attempted to send troops to several cities led by his democratic opponents, such as the capital Washington or Los Angeles, in the name of fighting crime.
