RALEIGH — A federal judge has blocked a legislative committee from case files involving the murder of Iryna Zarutska, the young Ukrainian woman allegedly stabbed to death by Decarlos Brown Jr. on Charlotte’s light rail system on Aug. 22, 2025.
Brown has been charged by the state with first-degree murder and faces a federal charge of committing murder on public transportation.
The public defender representing Brown filed an emergency motion to block the General Assembly House Oversight Committee from gaining access to the investigative files, apparently in response to learning the committee had requested the files from Mecklenburg District Attorney Spencer Merriweather.
According to filings in U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina, U.S. Magistrate Judge David Keesler issued a preliminary protective order Jan. 15 blocking the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police and Merriweather from releasing the files “to any third party,” including lawmakers.
Keesler’s order specifically states “any Legislator, staff, and/or volunteer, such recipient is prohibited from disclosing and/or releasing the files without prior authorization from this court.”
North State Journal requested comment from ranking members of the Oversight Committee but has not received a response.
An earlier order issued by the court prohibited “the release of any and all recordings relating to the August 22, 2025, events that are the subject of the indictment.”
The day prior to Keesler’s order, Brown’s lawyers indicated to the court that the file may have already been sent to lawmakers. Keesler’s order says if that is true, then the General Assembly is prohibited from releasing them.
In mid-December 2025, Brown’s lawyers made a request for Brown to undergo a mental evaluation, citing earlier interactions with police in 2025 which they believe show Brown had significant mental health issues prior to the Zarutska stabbing. That motion was granted Jan. 14 by Keesler.
The interactions with police raised by Brown’s attorneys include Brown being cited for abuse of the 911 call system, with one interaction involving police body cam footage outside of a Charlotte-area hospital last January.
Body cam footage shows Brown telling police he was trying to get help for the “man-made material” he claimed was controlling him. The footage shows police encouraging him to get medical help, but Brown responded he already had. Brown also told the officers he was schizophrenic and that he heard voices in his head.
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