Man accused of raping, killing and eating his ex-girlfriend deemed mentally fit to stand trial
A man accused of raping, killing and eating parts of the body of his ex-girlfriend has been deemed mentally fit to stand trial by a state psychiatrist.
35-year-old Joseph Oberhansley of Jeffersonville has been committed at the Logansport State Hospital since October when a judge ruled that he wasn't competent to stand trial for the 2014 killing of girlfriend Tammy Jo Blanton.
Mr. Oberhansley is accused of breaking into Ms. Blanton’s house, raping her, stabbing her to death, then sawing her head and body open to eat her brain, heart and lungs.
"This matter has been going on for four years now, and it's high time that the victim's family saw justice done," Clark County Prosecuting Attorney Jeremy Mull told the Courier Journal after the hearing.
The letter from the psychiatrist filed with Clark County Circuit Court noted that Oberhansley's competency has been restored since he was committed there last October to undergo competency restoration. In some of his early court appearances after his arrest, Obserhansley had outbursts in court and said his name was Zeus, WAVE3 reported.
Oberhansley's attorneys requested in court Thursday to have a month to talk with him and form an opinion on his competency. During the hearing, Oberhansley spoke up, telling the judge he needed to fire his attorneys, according to the Courier Journal.
"They're trying to control my thoughts," he said in court. "They're trying to control my mind."
Prosecuting attorney for Clark County, Jeremy Mull asked with the judge to set a date for a trial in the next six months, but the defence pleaded for a month-long delay before a trial is scheduled.
The next hearing in the case was set for 21 September.
Mr Oberhansley is charged with murder, burglary and rape and faces up to the death penalty if convicted.
