WASHINGTON: The Justice Department on Tuesday charged a man with a lengthy arrest record with the fatal stabbing of a Ukrainian refugee on a North Carolina commuter train last month, meaning he could face the death penalty.
The federal charge comes amid growing questions about why Decarlos Brown Jr. was on the street despite 14 prior criminal cases before he was accused of pulling out a knife and killing 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska in an apparently random attack captured on video. The case has become latest flashpoint in the debate over whether cities such as Charlotte are adequately addressing violent crime, mental illness and transit safety.
Zarutska had come to the United States to escape the war in Ukraine, relatives wrote in a GoFundMe post, describing her as determined to build a safer life.
Brown was arrested at the scene and charged with first-degree murder by North Carolina prosecutors. He now also faces a federal charge of causing death on a mass transportation system, which carries up to life in prison or the death penalty.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said the killing was “a direct result of failed soft-on-crime policies that put criminals before innocent people.”
“We will seek the maximum penalty for this unforgivable act of violence — he will never again see the light of day as a free man,” Bondi said in a statement.
The death penalty is a potential punishment for people convicted of first-degree murder in North Carolina. However, the state has not carried out an execution since 2006. Legal challenges over the use of lethal injection drugs and a doctor’s presence at executions have in part delayed action.
Brown had cycled through the criminal justice system for more than a decade, with 14 prior cases in Mecklenburg County, including serving five years for robbery with a dangerous weapon, according to court records. He was arrested earlier this year after repeatedly calling 911 from a hospital, claiming people were trying to control him. A judge released him without bail.
His mother told local television she sought an involuntary psychiatric commitment this year after he became violent at home. Doctors diagnosed him with schizophrenia.
Video released Friday shows Zarutska entering the light-rail train and taking a seat in front of Brown, who was seated behind her. Minutes later, without any apparent interaction, he pulls out a pocketknife, stands and slashes her in the neck, investigators said. Passengers scream and scatter as she collapses.
Man accused of killing Ukrainian refugee on North Carolina train charged with federal crime
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Man accused of killing Ukrainian refugee on North Carolina train charged with federal crime
- Zarutska had come to the US to escape the war in Ukraine, relatives wrote in a GoFundMe post, describing her as determined to build a safer life
- Attorney General Pam Bondi said: “We will seek the maximum penalty for this unforgivable act of violence”
Second doctor in Matthew Perry overdose case sentenced to home confinement
- Dr. Mark Chavez, 55, a onetime San Diego-based physician, pleaded guilty in federal court in October
- Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett also sentenced Chavez to 300 hours of community service
LOS ANGELES: A second California doctor was sentenced on Tuesday to eight months of home confinement for illegally supplying “Friends” star Matthew Perry with ketamine, the powerful sedative that caused the actor’s fatal drug overdose in a hot tub in 2023.
Dr. Mark Chavez, 55, a onetime San Diego-based physician, pleaded guilty in federal court in October to a single felony count of conspiracy to distribute the prescription anesthetic and surrendered his medical license in November.
Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett also sentenced Chavez to 300 hours of community service. As part of his plea agreement, Chavez admitted to selling ketamine to another physician Dr. Salvador Plasencia, 44, who in turn supplied the drug to Perry, though not the dose that ultimately killed the performer. Plasencia, who pleaded guilty to four counts of unlawful drug distribution, was sentenced earlier this month to 2 1/2 years behind bars.
He and Chavez were the first two of five people convicted in connection with Perry’s ketamine-induced death to be sent off to prison.
The three others scheduled to be sentenced in the coming weeks — Jasveen Sangha, 42, a drug dealer known as the “Ketamine Queen;” a go-between dealer Erik Fleming, 56; and Perry’s former personal assistant, Iwamasa, 60.
Sangha admitted to supplying the ketamine dose that killed Perry, and Iwamasa acknowledged injecting Perry with it. It was Iwamasa who later found Perry, aged 54, face down and lifeless, in the jacuzzi of his Los Angeles home on October 28, 2023.
An autopsy report concluded the actor died from the acute effects of ketamine,” which combined with other factors in causing him to lose consciousness and drown.
Perry had publicly acknowledged decades of substance abuse, including the years he starred as Chandler Bing on the hit 1990s NBC television series “Friends.”
According to federal law enforcement officials, Perry had been receiving ketamine infusions for treatment of depression and anxiety at a clinic where he became addicted to the drug.
When doctors there refused to increase his dosage, he turned to unscrupulous providers elsewhere willing to exploit Perry’s drug dependency as a way to make quick money, authorities said. Ketamine is a short-acting anesthetic with hallucinogenic properties that is sometimes prescribed to treat depression and other psychiatric disorders. It also has seen widespread abuse as an illicit party drug.
