Corbin Hippensteel
The suspect in a fatal shooting may be ordered to undergo a psychiatric assessment to determine his competency to assist in his own defense.
Corbin W. Hippensteel, 30, a former Jennings County resident who described himself as homeless, is charged with murder in the Nov. 27 shooting death of Alejandro Flores, 54, Columbus. The victim died from multiple gunshot wounds to the head at 2630 Joseph Cox Court, where Hippensteel had been staying with his grandfather, court records state.
When Hippensteel appeared before Bartholomew Circuit Judge Kelly Benjamin Monday for an initial hearing, he was largely silent and unresponsive. After appointing Greenwood attorney Joseph Villanueva to be public defender in the case, Benjamin decided to delay the hearing for three days.
As the defendant entered the courtroom Thursday, it first appeared he might be more responsive than he had been on Monday. Hippensteel walked about three steps ahead of two security officers while entering the courtroom. When the officers saw the defendant attempting to sit at the defense table, they were able to easily instruct him to sit instead in the jury box.
While waiting for Benjamin to start the hearing, Hippensteel seemed alert as he stared at different items within the courtroom.
Another defendant in an unrelated case attempted to get a better look at Hippensteel’s face while sitting next to him. In response, Hippensteel cocked his head, smiled to the other inmate and emitted a brief chuckle before he resumed looking around the courtroom.
Hippensteel’s eyes settled upon a middle-aged couple in the courtroom gallery for only a few seconds before he turned his head sharply in the other direction.
When the defendant saw Villanueva approaching him for a private discussion, that appeared to be the moment when Hippensteel became unresponsive. As his public defender tried to communicate with him, the defendant appeared to be asleep in his chair.
As they did on Monday, security officers had to physically lift Hippensteel up to his feet and walk him to the defense table. After sitting down next to Villanueva, the defendant remained unresponsive as the judge unsuccessfully tried to get him to acknowledge what was happening in the courtroom.
It was Villanueva who requested that a competency hearing be scheduled for his client, and Bartholomew County Prosecutor Lindsey Holden-Kay voiced no objections. But a formal motion will have to be drawn up and given to Benjamin for her consideration.
If approved, further court hearings could be delayed for a lengthy period of time. After the assessment begins, mental health professionals have up to 90 days to provide treatment and determine competency, according to Indiana law. If they believe a defendant is still unable to understand court proceedings and assist in his defense , the assessment and treatment will continue for up to six months.
But if there is still no improvement during that time, a defendant could be committed to a mental health facility.
There was an initial mental health evaluation of Hippensteel on Wednesday, Benjamin said. However, she told Villanueva and Holden-Kay that she has not yet seen the results. The judge also said it was her understanding that the defendant has been prescribed two different mental health medications, but the local jail did not yet have those drugs in stock.
Benjamin scheduled a pre-trial conference for 1:30 p.m. on March 25, and a trial tentatively scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m. on April 23.
The defendant was arrested the afternoon of Nov. 27 after Columbus police responded to emergency calls from the Homestead Mobile Home Park, just south of Columbus Municipal Airport. Hippensteel’s grandfather, Danny W. Sanders, called 911 after fleeing from his own residence, authorities said.
Sanders advised investigators his grandson has mental health issues and had been drinking liquor for two days, a probable cause affidavit states.
According to the grandfather, Hippensteel seemed upset and was ranting and raving when Sanders’ friend, Alex Flores, arrived to visit, court documents state. Flores had been in the residence a short time when Hippensteel came out of a back room and began a normal conversation with Flores, the affidavit says.
Hippensteel then began to threaten to shoot Flores in the head and pulled a revolver, court documents state. The police report also states Sanders said he was beginning to move toward his grandson when the revolver was first fired at the victim.
The grandfather said he heard additional shots, as well as Hippensteel yelling for him, as he ran out of his home to a neighbor’s residence to call 911, the affidavit states.
When police entered Sanders’ residence, they discovered Flores’ body in a chair with multiple gunshot wounds to the head, according to the court documents. Officers found Hippensteel a short time later walking in the mobile home park and arrested him without incident, police said.
The next day, a search turned up a .22 revolver between the bed mattresses as well as empty shell casings and unspent rounds in the room where Hippensteel was staying, investigators wrote. The same type of ammunition was discovered in a tent believed to belong to Hippensteel at a nearby homeless camp, the affidavit states.
