April 8, 2026

Brown faces both state first-degree murder charges and federal charges for the August 22 attack.

On Tuesday, his state public defender filed a motion in Mecklenburg Superior Court saying that a court-ordered capacity evaluation found Brown “incapable to proceed.”

The evaluation was completed in December at Central Regional Hospital.

Mecklenburg District Attorney Spencer Merriweather’s office agreed to delay Brown’s Rule 24 hearing, where prosecutors would decide whether to seek the death penalty in the state case, for another six months.

 

The case against Brown has hit another wall: his state public defender says a court-ordered evaluation found him “incapable to proceed,” stalling proceedings in Mecklenburg Superior Court even as he faces first-degree murder charges in state court and federal charges tied to the August 22 attack. Prosecutors have already agreed to push the critical Rule 24 death-penalty hearing back another six months, while President Trump is calling for execution and North Carolina’s de-facto 20-year death penalty moratorium keeps the ultimate punishment out of reach for now.

Leave a Reply