Accused murderer William D. Chesher, 62, was back in Metcalfe Circuit Court on January 14 for a pretrial hearing before Judge Phil Patton. Chesher is facing charges of capital murder and tampering with physical evidence in the shooting death of Ronnie Joe Hiser, 58, on June 4, 2013 at Hiser’s home on Glasgow Road.

The purpose of the hearing was to determine whether the defendant is competent to stand trial and assist in his own defense. To that end, last September Chesher was admitted to the Kentucky Correctional Psychiatric Center in LaGrange where, over a period of five weeks, he was administered a battery of tests and was interviewed several times by forensic psychiatrist Amy Trevitte.

On Tuesday, Trevitte testified via speaker phone on the various tests Chesher was administered and her interviews with him. Among her findings is that the defendant scored average to high average on an IQ test, he has a history of substance abuse and while he has some other mental health issues, at no time did he exhibit any signs of psychosis. He was also able to recount the events on June 4 in detail. It is Trevitte’s opinion that the defendant is competent to stand trial.

Chesher’s attorney, Greg Berry, questioned Trevitte on how much time she had actually spent with his client and she responded that she met with him about six times for 10 to 20 minutes each session. When the doctor started prescribing that Chesher sometimes had a list of complaints and he would lose his temper Berry kept trying to interrupt her, saying he had not asked her for that information.

When both attorneys were satisfied with the doctor’s testimony, Judge Patton ruled that based upon the opinion of Dr. Trevitte, he feels that Chesher is competent to stand trial.

Commonwealth Attorney John Gardner then stated that there were “hours and hours” of recorded phone calls between Chesher and Karen Hiser, wife of the deceased, which he wants to introduce as evidence. A final pre-trial hearing will be held February 25 with the trial date on March 18.