Antonio Chance deemed mentally retarded

Lawyers for the suspect in Cynthia Moreland's killing cite a psychologist's finding that might save client's life

RALEIGH -- The state psychologist used by Wake prosecutors to evaluate Antonio Chance, accused of killing Progress Energy employee Cynthia Moreland, concluded that Chance is mentally retarded, heightening the possibility that he'll avoid the death penalty.

The psychologist's finding is significant because both a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court ruling and a North Carolina law say the mentally retarded cannot be executed. North Carolina's law outlines factors that constitute mental retardation: Defendants must show signs of retardation before they're 18, score less than 70 on IQ tests or exhibit other difficulties adapting to everyday life.

Chance's attorneys have tried to have him classified as mentally retarded and prosecutors have resisted. He is supposed to go on trial this fall; Wake prosecutors had hoped to ask for a death sentence if he were convicted of first-degree murder.

On Friday, Wake Public Defender G. Bryan Collins Jr. and Raleigh lawyer Karl Knudsen asked Superior Court Judge James C. Spencer Jr. to hold a hearing to determine whether Chance was mentally retarded. Spencer turned down their request.

But in a motion filed late Thursday afternoon, Collins and Knudsen asked Spencer to reconsider his decision in light of a report July 24 by Dr. Mark Hazelrigg, the chief of forensic science at Dorothea Dix Hospital.

"In my opinion Mr. Chance does meet the criteria for Mental Retardation," Hazelrigg wrote.

Chance, 30, a convicted sex offender, is the sole suspect in Moreland's kidnapping, rape and killing. A longtime Progress Energy employee, Moreland had arrived at a downtown parking lot she used for work Aug. 22, 2006, but never made it to her office. For days, searches were held for the missing Wendell woman and her car. Police released surveillance camera images of a man they now think to be Chance using her ATM card at a local store.

Chance was arrested Aug. 24 and Moreland's body was found 12 days later behind an abandoned home in a rural part of Harnett County. In Hazelrigg's report, the psychologist noted Chance had a long history of cocaine use as well as IQ scores below the threshold of 70, widely considered to be indicative of mental retardation. Chance had also spent time in special education classes as a child.

Help was sought

Hazelrigg's report also shows that Chance's family may have sought help for him. In the two months before he was arrested, his mother and sister took him to Wake County mental health facilities and he was offered outpatient treatment. Chance told Hazelrigg that he had wanted inpatient treatment but was told there were no available beds.

" 'Those people shut the door in my face,' " Chance said, according to the report. " 'I wouldn't be in this situation.' "

Chance said he never attended the outpatient treatment he was offered and instead increased his already daily use of cocaine.

Susan Spurlin, a Wake assistant district attorney, said that she couldn't comment on what direction prosecutors will go in following Hazelrigg's report.