JEFFERSONVILLE, Ind. (AP) — The Indiana Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the life sentence without parole for a man convicted of killing his ex-girlfriend and eating parts of her body.
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JEFFERSONVILLE, Ind. (AP) — The Indiana Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the
life sentence without parole for a man convicted of killing his ex-girlfriend and eating parts of her body.
Joseph Oberhansley was
convicted in September 2020 of murder and burglary in the slaying of Tammy Jo Blanton in Jeffersonville in September 2014. Clark Circuit Judge Vicki Carmichael sentenced Oberhansley to life in prison without parole, based on a jury recommendation.
Oberhansley’s attorney, Victoria Casanova, argued before the court last month that her client’s mental health wasn’t taken into consideration and that the jury didn’t return a proper verdict form in weighing aggravating and mitigating circumstances.
The opinion written by Justice Christopher Goff said the jury made “the necessary weighing determination.” Three other justices concurred and Justice Geoffrey Slaughter agreed in part.
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Joseph Albert Oberhansley was convicted of burglary and the murder of his former partner, Tammy Jo Blanton—crimes he concedes were “horrific and brutal.”1 The jury recommended, and the trial court imposed, a sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole (LWOP). In this direct appeal, Oberhansley argues that the jury failed to determine that the aggravating circumstances outweighed the mitigating circumstances—a statutory prerequisite for an LWOP sentence. We conclude that the jury’s LWOP recommendation implicitly reflected the necessary determination and, thus, the trial court did not err in imposing the sentence. Oberhansley also claims that his sentence was inappropriate in light of the severe mental illness he was suffering when he committed these crimes. Considering his character and the nature of his crimes, we cannot agree with him. Consequently, we affirm his sentence.