Man admits to 2008 murder after judge throws out death penalty

Two months after a judge took the possibility of the death penalty off the table for Frederick Desun Schneider because of his “intellectual disability,” he pleaded guilty Thursday to second-degree murder.

Schneider, who has been behind bars since the June 2008 shooting death of 25-year-old Antonio Mooney, now faces between 10 and 25 years in prison on the murder charge.

District Judge Michael Villani, who in November granted the defendant’s request to throw out the death penalty, could sentence Schneider to additional time on a count of battery. Another man also suffered a gunshot wound when Schneider fired outside an apartment complex at 1555 Balzar Ave., near Lake Mead Boulevard and Martin Luther King Drive.

Mooney, the father of two children, was shot in the back June 7, 2008, after he confronted a group of men whom he believed had robbed the apartment. Mooney was found lying midway up a staircase and died later at University Medical Center.

Mooney had been visiting his girlfriend’s apartment when he noticed the door had been kicked in.

He stepped outside, and a quarrel ensued before Schneider shot and killed Mooney, 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 a part of town known for heavy gang activity.

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

Schneider’s defense lawyer Dayvid Figler said it was rare for a judge to remove the death penalty after prosecutors pursued it, but a psychologist found that Schneider had an IQ of 65.

“We had maintained for sometime that our client was intellectually disabled,” Figler said.

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, now 32, 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” was a violation of the constitutional ban on cruel unusual punishment.

Schneider had been set to face trial for the slaying on Monday.

Contact reporter David Ferrara at dferrara@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039. Find him on Twitter: @randompoker