Does a video show the final verdict being handed down in the trial of Decarlos Brown for the killing of Iryna Zarutska, who was fatally stabbed while riding a train in Charlotte, North Carolina? No, that's not true: This video montage was originally posted on Instagram with a caption suggesting that it was a hypothetical outcome, "This an idea of what the court verdict will read". Brown was indicted by a federal grand jury on Oct. 22, 2025. At the time of writing, Nov. 26, 2025 there has not been a date set for the trial. The video in the social media post is from an unrelated 2016 case.
The video montage appeared in a post (archived here) published on X by @Katsbigopinion2 on Nov. 24, 2025. It is captioned:
Not enough! Needs harsher punishment!
This is a screenshot of the post:
(Image Source: Lead Stories screenshot from x.com/Katsbigopinion2/status/1993149553198112911.)
The post is a collage of three elements, a photo of Iryna Zarutska, a still image of the stabbing from the train security camera, and a courtroom video of a man with dreadlocks wearing a prison stripe uniform, reacting to the reading of a sentence of "life without parole". The text caption reads:
Final Verdict in Court
The courtroom footage (embedded below and set to begin at 36 seconds) is not related to the North Carolina case, it was posted on YouTube by WCPO 9 on Oct. 19, 2016. It shows the 2016 sentencing of Jaleel Smith-Riley in Cincinnati, Ohio, for the 2013 shooting death of Porshia Brooks during an attempted robbery.
Before being reposted on X, this misleading video montage was posted (archived here) on Sept. 12, 2025 on Instagram by @brandonmasonshow. The caption included with the post provided a semblance of a disclaimer. It does not clarify that the video shows an unrelated years-old case from another state. It reads:
This an idea of what the court verdict will read for the man named Decarlos Brown Jr that stabbed 23 year old Ukrainian woman, Iryna Zariska on a train in North Carolina. Will he get the d**th penalty or life in prison? #breakingnews #trending
At the time of writing, Nov. 26, 2025, a date for Brown's trial has not been scheduled. An Oct. 22, 2025 press release (archived here) from the U.S. Attorney's Office, Western District of North Carolina announced:
On October 22, 2025, a federal grand jury returned a criminal indictment, charging Decarlos Dejuan Brown, Jr., 34, with committing an act of violence causing death on a railroad carrier and mass transportation system, for the fatal attack of Iryna Zarutska on Charlotte's light rail system, announced Russ Ferguson, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. Brown was initially charged via a federal criminal complaint on Sept. 9, 2025.
