LIMA — A Lima man charged in the stabbing death of his mother last week unleashed an obscenity-laced tirade at a municipal court judge Monday during his initial court appearance Monday.
Joseph Cheney, 43, faces a preliminary charge of suspicion of murder in the stabbing death of his mother, 71-year-old Rachel Cheney, at the family’s residence at 908 E. Kibby St. Police said the cause of death was a stab wound to the woman’s upper torso.
An arraignment hearing is the first step in the legal process for defendants and traditionally persons charged with a crime take that opportunity to formally enter a plea of not guilty. Cheney had other ideas.
Appearing on a television screen in Lima Municipal Court via video from the Allen County jail, Cheney was combative from the outset of the hearing. During rambling statements laced with obscenities and sexual references, the defendant called Judge Tammie Hursh a whore and said “I ain’t got time to mess around with you (expletives). I just want to get the (expletive) out of here.”
Hursh quickly called for an end to the hearing and Cheney disappeared from the screen in the courtroom. The judge asked a jail staffer to describe the Lima man’s mental state since he was first taken into custody last week. The jailer replied, “It’s been pretty much the same as you just witnessed.”
Another jailer said Cheney had “threatened to break my leg on the way up here today.”
Hursh said a plea would not be entered on Cheney’s behalf before suggesting that the defendant “maybe is in need of some mental health services.” His bond was set at $250,000 and a preliminary hearing/arraignment was rescheduled for 10 a.m. Thursday.
Hursh said an attorney would be appointed to represent Cheney.
Lima police were dispatched shortly after 10:30 a.m. May 27 to the Kibby Street location in reference to an unresponsive female. Upon their arrival, officers located Rachel Cheney deceased inside the residence. Joseph Cheney was determined to be a person of interest in the investigation and taken into custody without incident.
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