LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The path forward in the fight for justice for one Louisville mother grieving the loss of her son has been put on hold for the fourth time since last April.
It's been more than a year since father of five, Fred O'Bannon was killed. The 37-year-old construction worker was shot while sitting in his truck at a construction zone on the Watterson Expressway in November 2021.
In court on Wednesday, his mother Anita O'Bannon shook her head in disappointment, hands together, as she was told once again it will be another month before she knows for sure that her son will have a chance at justice.
The ruling she was expecting to hear, didn't happen.
"I'm just tired. I'm mentally, physically and emotionally tired," she said.
During a support group meeting Tuesday night for mothers who lost their loved ones to gun violence, O'Bannon said she got a call in early January saying a mental health evaluation on 26-year-old Keyshaun Stewart, her son's alleged killer, had been completed -- deeming him competent to stand trial.
"I don't trust our justice system," O'Bannon said Tuesday night. "I don't trust it at all, the young man who killed my son claimed he was insane."
But in court, another curveball pushed back that decision once again, this time to March 3.
Attorneys said while the evaluation is complete, they need the doctor himself in court to verify the results before the judge can make her ruling.
O'Bannon expressed frustration with the justice system in her son's case saying it's prolonging her pain.
"He took my son's life," she said Tuesday night. "He gave me a life sentence because I have to deal with this and deal with this the rest of my life."
Stewart sat quietly in the courtroom as the decision was made to push it back again.
"This man has more rights than my son did when he took my son's life," O'Bannon said. "Every court date I will be here, come hell or high water, I'll be here to make sure my son gets the justice he deserves."
But through all of this, she tells WHAS11 she has faith her son will get justice when it's all said and done.
A case flooded with delays
Fred O'Bannon was a beloved father of five and a Louisville construction worker. In November of 2021, while working an overnight shift near the ramp of the Watterson Expressway in Shively, he was shot and killed while sitting in his truck.
The FBI later said Steward was originally attempting a carjacking. Police also said Stewart then shot at an LMPD officer's car, hitting Sgt. Chris Lane in the face.
The case has been flooded with delays from the start. In Dec. 2021, officials said Stewart twice refused to come to court for arraignment.
Lane was also in the courtroom with the O'Bannon family Wednesday.
Last June, he filed a lawsuit against Kentucky's Department of Corrections and a parole officer. His attorneys claim Stewart had violated his five-year probation sentence back in 2020, but the parole officer didn't report the violations to court.
They say Stewart should have been in jail.
An investigation found the parole officer violated protocol and he was fired last March.
WHAS11 checked in on the status of the lawsuit. Lane's attorneys said they are still in the discovery period and have taken several depositions.
The trial date for the case has yet to be set.
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