Three months after she was found mentally incompetent to stand trial, doctors say Kimberly Kessler is capable of returning to court.
Kessler, also known as Jennifer Sybert, is charged with the murder of Joleen Cummings. The Nassau County mother was reported missing around Mother's Day in 2018. She has not been found since.
First Coast News spoke with Jacksonville criminal defense attorney Janet Johnson who explained how the change could happen so quickly. Johnson is not connected to the case.
“She had intensive training to restore her to competency, which basically means she knows what her charges are," Johnson said. "She can assist her attorney. That’s a pretty low standard and they’ve gotten her to that point."
Johnson added the evaluations are fairly standard, but the actual psychiatric assessment is confidential.
“She’s probably been on a medication that she probably wasn’t taking," Johnson said. "Having been put on the medication, then they do training, it’s basically school to get her competent."
“You go through different stages of grief, I’ve learned throughout this process," Cummings' mother Anne Johnson said after Kessler was initially found incompetent to stand trial back in June. "Now I’m angry."
Cummings' mother told First Coast News she did not have a comment on the competency change and is waiting to see if the State Attorney's Office reaches out to her to talk about the case and the next steps.
Janet Johnson says, however, just because the hospital says Kessler is competent to proceed, a trial does not mean it's a sure thing.
"Either she goes to trial, there’s a plea bargain or she just pleads straight up to the court," she said. "Now we can go forward and just like in any other case, we're just starting to figure out what the road-map is for the rest of it."
The court is required to set a hearing within 30 days. Johnson adds if the defense invokes an insanity defense it could prolong the process months.
A date for that hearing is expected in the next 30 days. A date has not been set.