Lawyer pleads insanity in murder case

The lawyer for an accused murderer who has been declared incompetent to stand trial is planning an insanity defense.

Corbin W. Hippensteel, 31, is charged with murder in the shooting death of Alejandro Flores on November 27, 2023. Investigators say the 54-year-old victim died of multiple gunshot wounds to the head at 2630 Joseph Cox Court.

Hippensteel, a Jennings County native who describes himself as homeless, was staying with his grandfather at the time of the shooting, according to court documents. Police reports do not indicate a motive for the killing, although the grandfather, Danny W. Sanders, said the defendant had been “raging and angry and upset all day,” according to an affidavit.

“Sanders stated that Hippensteel was suffering from mental health issues and believed he had been drinking alcohol since November 26th because he found a nearly empty 1.9-liter bottle,” a CPD detective wrote in the probable cause affidavit.

When Hippensteel was led before Bartholomew Circuit Court Judge Kelly Benjamin for an initial hearing on Dec. 4, he sat motionless — even after a deputy sheriff forcibly lifted the defendant by the arm from the jury box, led him to the defense table and helped seat him in his chair.

When questioned by the judge, Hippensteel gave only his name. The guards told Benjamin that the defendant had also refused to communicate in the county jail.

Four days later, Hippensteel seemed more lucid when he was brought back before Benjamin. He walked into the courtroom ahead of his guards and later giggled at a comment whispered to him by another defendant.

But when defense attorney Joseph Villaneuva visited him for a consultation, Hippensteel suddenly became unresponsive again and seemed to fall asleep in his chair.

On December 20, the court ordered that Hippensteel be examined by two forensic psychologists: Indianapolis psychiatrist George Parker and psychologist Dr. Stephanie Callaway of Midwest Forensics Services, LLC. Parker submitted his evaluation on February 5, while Callaway's findings arrived on March 11.

Two days after Callaway's findings were presented to the court, on March 13, the prosecution and defense agreed that Hippensteel was mentally incompetent to stand trial.

On April 2, he was taken to Logansport State Hospital where he underwent a skills evaluation that included a cognitive stress test to determine if Hippensteel was suffering from an adjustment disorder, a term used to describe a form of mental instability in which the body and brain react extremely to stress, affecting thoughts, feelings and actions. On July 2, he was taken back to the Bartholomew County Jail.

On August 5, Villaneuva informed the court that he intended to enter a plea of ​​insanity for his client. The court is currently waiting for Parker and Callaway to prepare second reports on the defendant's sanity.

If the court finds that Hippensteel's mental health has not improved since March, he could be committed to a mental hospital indefinitely. However, if Benjamin decides he is competent to stand trial, Parker and Callaway will testify about what they believe Hippensteel's mental state was at the time of the murder.