Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier reiterated his plea to narrow the state’s insanity defense statute after a 40-year-old man allegedly stabbed a woman in the back at a Barnes & Noble bookstore in Palm Beach Gardens last week. The woman, 65-year-old Rita B. Loncharich, later died after being transported to St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach from her injuries.
“Red states must eliminate tragedies like this. It’s why I have urged the Florida Legislature to narrow the “insanity defense” so that it can no longer be abused to release violent criminals,” Uthmeier wrote on social media. “If you brutally murder someone, you must face the death penalty or be locked up forever.
According to multiple outlets, Antonio Moore attacked the woman after an “internal buildup” caused a “fight or flight” response in the bookstore just before 8 p.m. on Dec. 22. He then took a knife out of his jacket and stabbed Loncharich in the back. She was the closest person to him in the store…