RALEIGH - Joseph D. Sanderlin admitted Friday that he killed Lauren Redman in her West Raleigh apartment in November 2005. He pleaded guilty to first-degree murder.

Sanderlin, 26, will spend the rest of his life imprisoned as a result of his plea, which came after Wake District Attorney Colon Willoughby decided Thursday afternoon not to seek the death penalty against Sanderlin.

Willoughby said he made his decision because of indications that Sanderlin's IQ was below 70, the legal threshold for mental retardation. North Carolina law doesn't allow the execution of those with IQs less than 70 and who showed subaverage intellectual function before they were 18 and who have shown problems adapting to their everyday lives.

An attorney for Sanderlin had submitted a psychologist's report indicating that tests on the defendant showed IQ scores ranging from 64 to 85.

Thomas Manning, a member of the defense team, said he was relieved at Willoughby's decision not to seek the death penalty. Manning said Sanderlin apologized to Redman's parents in court Friday.

On Nov. 8, 2005, Redman was stabbed repeatedly and died in a breezeway outside her apartment. Redman, a Knightdale native, was 22 at the time and had worked at local restaurants and at an N.C. State laboratory. She met Sanderlin and his co-defendant, Byron Waring, through a former roommate. Sanderlin and Waring decided to rob her the night of the attack, according to theories put forth by prosecutors and police.

Sanderlin's co-defendant, Byron Waring, is on death row for the crime and has appealed his conviction. Waring's attorneys also brought up issues of mental capacity at his trial.

Sanderlin was portrayed as the more aggressive attacker in Redman's death, according to a series of confessions that Waring gave to police. Physical evidence also showed that Sanderlin had raped Redman, said Doug Faucette, a Wake assistant district attorney who prosecuted the case.

Sanderlin's mother acknowledged having at least two drinks a day and smoking heavily during her pregnancy, according to the report written by Dr. Timothy Hancock, a forensic clinical psychologist who was hired by defense attorneys. Sanderlin, who grew up in Virginia, was born "shaking" and continued to shake for three days, raising concerns with the hospital staff that his mother had been using drugs or alcohol while pregnant with him.

At age 8, Sanderlin was committed to a hospital after his infant brother was found dead, the report by Hancock notes. Sanderlin had spontaneously confessed to smothering the infant. It was later thought that the baby's body was put in Sanderlin's bed after it was found next to his mother, who was drunk at the time and possibly passed out, Hancock wrote.

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