Judge sentences man, once facing death, to 14 to 25 years in prison

A man with an intellectual disability who had faced the death penalty for more than six years was sentenced Tuesday to 14 to 25 years in prison in connection with a 2008 fatal shooting.

Frederick Desun Schneider, 32, has been behind bars since the slaying of Antonio Mooney, 25.

In January, Schneider pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and battery with use of a deadly weapon. A gunshot also hit another man’s shoe when Schneider fired outside an apartment complex at 1555 Balzar Ave., near Lake Mead Boulevard and Martin Luther King Drive.

Two months before his plea, District Judge Michael Villani granted a request by Schneider’s attorneys to throw out the death penalty.

A psychologist found Schneider has an IQ of 65, according to defense lawyer Monti Jordana Levy.

Schneider was born addicted to drugs, Levy said. His mother used heroin throughout her pregnancy and never bonded with him. He was raised by older siblings and a grandmother, and had repressed memories of suffering abuse as a child.

Prosecutors did not offer a rebuttal witness to the psychologist’s testimony, according to Villani’s decision.

In removing the death penalty, the judge ruled that Schneider had “significant limitations in intellectual functioning” and “adaptive functioning,” which started before he turned 18. That met the three concepts the Nevada Supreme Court ruled would clarify the definition of intellectual disability, the judge wrote in his decision.

In 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that executing inmates with “mental retardation” violates the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

If the case had gone to trial, Levy said she could have argued self-defense, as another person who was at the scene admitted to firing a gun, and the victim initiated the confrontation.

Mooney, the father of two children, was shot in the back June 7, 2008, after he confronted a group of men he believed had robbed his girlfriend’s apartment. Mooney noticed the door had been kicked in, stepped outside, and a quarrel ensued before Schneider shot Mooney, who died later at University Medical Center, police said.

At the time of the killing, police said Schneider, who was originally charged with murder with use of a deadly weapon and assault with a deadly weapon, was a gang member in an area known for heavy gang activity.

Schneider, who goes by the nicknames “Henry” and “Hen-dog,” initially denied being the gunman, but witnesses identified him.

On Tuesday, Villani gave Schneider credit for the 2,485 days — nearly seven years — he has been held in the Clark County Detention Center.

That means Schneider could be eligible for parole in about seven years.

Levy said Schneider has been a “model inmate” at the jail.