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Edward J. Hensley, 59 (Elkhart County Jail booking photo) (October 19, 2012) |
CASSOPOLIS, Mich. – There’s a new development in the case against a man accused of killing his sister back in June.
59-year-old Edward Hensley has been found not competent to stand trial.
Hensley was arrested June 29 after he allegedly stabbed his sister, Martha Sexton, to death in her home on U.S. 12 in Cass County’s Mason Township where he had been living for about 10 days.
Cass County Prosecutor Victor Fitz says a report issued Friday at a competency hearing found Hensley has a “substantial probability” he could be expected to regain competency.
Fitz says Hensley will be transferred to the Center for Forensic Psychiatry of Michigan’s Department of Community Health for the next 15 months.
If Hensley cannot be made competent in that time, another competency hearing will be scheduled.
At the time of Sexton’s murder, family members said Hensley and his sister got into an argument, and Hensley got violent.
SWAT teams scoured nearby woods shortly after the murder, but he was arrested by Elkhart city police before being extradited back to Cass County days later.
Family members told WSBT just after the crime Hensley had severe mood swings and has had problems with alcohol in the past.
