A man charged in the fatal stabbing of a Ukrainian refugee on a North Carolina commuter train cannot currently stand trial because of his mental illness and will undergo medical treatment to try to restore his competency, a federal judge ruled.
Decarlos Brown Jr, 35, faces a federal charge of causing death on a mass transportation system in the killing of 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska in Charlotte, a charge that is punishable by death. A separate state case against Brown in which he is charged with first-degree murder is on pause pending the outcome of the federal case.
At the request of Brown's attorneys, US District Judge Kenneth D Bell found that their client is not currently competent to stand trial and ordered him to spend up to four months in a prison medical facility to try to restore his competency.
Defence attorneys said in a court filing that Brown insisted that they provide the judge with the following information: “I would like to tell the court I have a body emergency. Someone has full access to my body, and they are controlling me wrongfully. And law enforcement refuses to investigate it. And it requires for an investigation. When describing the technology someone was using I was misdiagnosed with schizophrenia.”
Brown told his lawyers he wants a court order directing law enforcement to investigate his body emergency, they wrote.
A forensic evaluation by federal mental health examiners was filed under seal in the federal case in April. It found that Brown “is presently not competent to stand trial, but that his prognosis for restoration to competency is favourable with appropriate medication therapy”, the judge wrote in his order.
Brown “is suffering from a mental disease or defect that renders him unable to understand the nature and consequences of the proceedings or to assist properly in his defence,” Bell wrote.
The judge ordered Brown committed to the custody of the attorney general for hospitalisation and treatment “to determine whether there is a substantial probability” that Brown will be able to proceed “in the foreseeable future”.
Once that period is over, the judge will determine whether Brown's competency has been restored and whether the case can move forward, whether continued treatment is needed or whether Brown cannot be made competent, the judge wrote.
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