Florida inmate fights death penalty; several doctors say his IQ under 70

From the Naples News in Florida:

FORT MYERS, Fla. — A Lee County man accused of fatally shooting a 20-year-old convenience store clerk during a 2007 robbery continues the fight to save his own life.

Chad Moreland (pictured), 27, was in court on July 27 as his attorney filed a second motion seeking to bar the death penalty in the capital murder case. Moreland is accused of killing Gerald Rabon during an Aug. 25, 2007, robbery at the Pik ‘N Run on Alico Road.

Earlier this year, a Lee Circuit judge found that Moreland was competent to stand trial and not legally mentally retarded, meaning he could face execution under state law. However, a final judgment on Moreland’s mental status would only come after conviction and a jury’s recommendation for death.

Moreland’s attorney wants the penalty thrown out before trial. Prosecutors, meanwhile, haven’t indicated they’ll drop their pursuit of execution.

Tuesday, assistant public defender Neil McLoughlin filed a motion to have the penalty barred under a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that called the death penalty “cruel and unusual punishment” when applied to the mentally retarded.

He contends the case requires Moreland’s mental status be determined up front.

“I’m saying Atkins is a bar (to execution), and the court will decide before trial,” McLoughlin said after the hearing.

Thus far, four doctors have testified that Moreland has an IQ below 70, a score widely considered the threshold for mental retardation.

Lee Circuit Judge Edward J. Volz ruled in March that Moreland did not show an adequate deficiency in “adaptive behaviors” to meet the legal standard of mental retardation in Florida.

“He lives with his girlfriend, he has fathered children and he is social with friends,” Volz wrote in the ruling. “He travels to the mall, has good personal hygiene, has proper telephone etiquette and has the ability to take messages for other people, etc.”

In Atkins, the U.S. Supreme Court case, justices cited a similar standard, explaining that most experts defined mental retardation as comprising both intellectual and adaptive limitations.

McLoughlin said he’s working with a new expert who can speak to Moreland’s adaptive skills.

Also on Tuesday, McLoughlin filed a motion seeking to have Moreland’s statements to police barred, based on the defendant’s low IQ. The motion states that Moreland was “unfairly deceived” by the interrogating detective.

Moreland confessed to the robbery and told Lee County Sheriff’s detective Shawn Ramsey the shooting was an accident, according to the motion.

Prosecutors on Tuesday said they hoped to be ready for trial by December but will need time to respond to the new motions. They anticipated no plea agreements.

Volz told attorneys he wanted hearings on each of Moreland’s motions and all depositions completed by Nov. 1, with a pretrial conference slated for December. The trial has already been postponed multiple times.

“It’s a little late for all this,” Volz said of McLoughlin’s motions.

Moreland’s sister, Iris Moreland, 30, pleaded no contest in 2009 to second degree murder, armed robbery and grand theft in the case. Under the deal, she would be sentenced to 40 years in prison and may be called to testify against her brother.

Rabon, the clerk killed in the robbery, was an Eagle Scout who worked at the convenience store for $8 an hour. He was enrolled in the Lee County Sheriff’s Office Explorers, a program intended for teenagers interested in law enforcement careers. Detectives say he fought with Moreland during the robbery and was killed in the tussle.