Crucial detail about Iryna Zarutska's suspected murderer may ease online outrage after 'incompetency' ruling

Outrage spread online earlier this week after reports emerged that Iryna Zarutska's suspected murderer was ruled incompetent to stand trial. Amid the outrage, however, a glimmer of good news came out for those invested in seeking justice in the high-profile case from August 2025.

Blaze News reported Wednesday that Decarlos Dejuan Brown Jr., the suspect in Iryna Zarutska's senseless stabbing on the subway system in Charlotte, North Carolina, was deemed incompetent to stand trial. This news caused many to speculate that the suspect may escape punishment on a technicality.

'How many more innocent people must we sacrifice for the sake of coddling and babying the absolute scum of the Earth?'

Many online commentators and even a foreign leader reacted to an X post from the New York Post on the development.

"The purpose of a system is what it does," White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller said.

RELATED: Homeless schizophrenic man accused of stabbing Iryna Zarutska to death is 'incapable to proceed' to trial

Peter Zay/Anadolu/Getty Images

"If you’re competent enough to target a woman and murder her, you’re competent enough to stand trial, be found guilty, and receive the death penalty," BlazeTV's Allie Beth Stuckey responded.

The Daily Wire's Matt Walsh's response summed up the outrage:

The whole idea of "incompetent to stand trial" is f**king nonsense. If you're too "incompetent" to understand that you shouldn't butcher an innocent woman on the train, you should die. Period. Arrest, convict, execute. You are not fit to be a part of human society. How many more innocent people must we sacrifice for the sake of coddling and babying the absolute scum of the Earth? Our ancestors had it right. They would have had this guy hanging from the gallows an hour after conviction. The old system of justice was light years better than this insane bulls**t we're dealing with now.

El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele, who has cleaned up his country from crime quite effectively in recent months, said, "Impeach the corrupt judges."

CEO of NXR Studios and Pastor Joel Webbon weighed in as well: "No one is too incompetent for the death penalty. All you have to do is sit there. He’ll do fine."

While the outrage surrounding the murder case continues, the report from the New York Post's headline did not mention separate federal charges against Brown that are unaffected by the findings of the state case. The Post did, however, mention this fact in the report.

The Western District of North Carolina U.S. Attorney's Office made this key detail abundantly clear in its response to the Post on social media: "DeCarlos Brown is in federal custody on a federal indictment. The state proceedings, including any competency finding in those proceedings, are completely separate."

Brown faces a federal charge of one count of committing an act causing death on a mass transportation system. If convicted, he could still face life in prison or even the death penalty.

"Crimes like this ... affect everyone who relies on mass transportation to get to and from work and go about their daily lives," U.S. Attorney Russ Ferguson said in September, "and federal charges are necessary to protect the public and ensure confidence in our transportation systems."

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