WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (Court TV) — Attorneys for a man accused of stabbing a woman to death inside a bookstore have asked for the defendant to be evaluated, saying he’s not competent to stand trial.
Antonio Moore is charged with first-degree murder. (Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office)
Antonio Moore, 40, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Rita Berenice Loncharich, 65, who was stabbed in the back while shopping.
Prosecutors say Moore had traveled to Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, from Georgia via bus approximately one week before the attack. After his arrest, Moore told investigators that he had gone into the Barnes & Noble bookstore with his bags and was charging his phone when he saw the victim.
In the interview with detectives, Moore said he had never seen the victim before, had never interacted with her and had no motive for the attack. He allegedly admitted to stabbing her in the back after “there was an internal build-up that led to his fight or flight response kicking in, with Rita being the closest person inside the store.” Moore said that the victim said, “He stabbed me,” after the attack and admitted to running out of the building. He was found approximately 1,500 feet away from the store in a wooded area and was taken into custody.
A lawsuit filed on Tuesday by the victim’s husband offers further detail about Moore’s behavior before the attack. The complaint, reviewed by Court TV, alleges that in the days before the attack, Moore blocked someone from driving in the same shopping plaza while staring at them “in an intimidating manner.”
Rita Loncharich (Johnson’s Memorial Chapel)
The lawsuit, filed against Barnes & Noble as well as Legacy Place, the shopping plaza which houses the store, alleges that Moore was found on the morning of the stabbing sleeping outside of the Total Wine & More store in the plaza. When the store asked for Legacy Place management to remove him, they called the police; Moore allegedly left the area before police arrived. The suit seeks more than $50,000, alleging that the businesses failed to maintain a safe environment for shoppers despite ongoing issues involving the transient population on the property.
Now, Moore’s attorneys say they can’t proceed with the case because he is not cooperating with them. In a motion filed this week, Moore’s attorney, Daniel Eisinger, said his client “does not appear to have the ability to testify relevantly. Moore is unable to assist his lawyer in his defense due to his mental illness. It is unclear whether he understands the adversarial nature of the legal process.”
The motion says that after his arrest, Moore was housed in a mental health unit for months before he was transferred to general population, where he is now in solitary confinement.
Judge Donald Hafele granted the order and appointed an expert to evaluate Moore.
