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The man accused of stabbing a Ukranian woman two months earlier was formally indicted on Wednesday by a federal grand jury.
34-year-old Decarlos Brown was charged with knowingly and unlawfully using a dangerous weapon with intent to cause death on the Charlotte Area Transit System.
The charge stems from the August 22 killing of Iryna Zarutska, who was stabbed multiple times while riding the Lynx blue line in the South End area of Charlotte. According to prosecutors, Brown intentionally killeed Zarutska and acted with “reckless disregard for human life.”
Brown had previously been indicted on murder charges in Mecklenbur County court in September. Under federal law, violence against a mass transportation system resulting death carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment or the death penalty.
Zarutska, 23, had fled Ukraine seeking safety from the country’s war with Russia and was working full-time at a Charlotte pirzzareia while attending community college.
In the wake of the stabbing, lawmakers in North Carolina passed a bill known as “Iryna’s Law,” which bars cashless bail for certain violent crimes and for many repeat offenders.
It also limits the discretion magistrates and judges have in making pretrial release decisions, gives the state chief justice the ability to suspend magistrates and seeks to ensure more defendants undergo mental health evaluations.
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