NILES — A 58-year-old Trumbull County man found not guilty by reason of insanity in a 1991 murder case will remain under court-ordered mental health care.

James Hubbard appeared via video from Heartland Behavioral Health in Massillon on Wednesday before Trumbull County Common Pleas Judge Sean O’Brien, who ruled that Hubbard must remain at the behavioral health center under strict supervision. Trumbull County Assistant Prosecutor Diane Barber informed the court that the hospital still deems Hubbard mentally ill.

In 1991, Hubbard shot and killed 21-year-old Sallie Beatty, a dental hygienist, in the parking lot of a Taco Bell in Niles. Beatty, who was newly married and planning her first wedding anniversary, was on her lunch break when the shooting happened.

Before the murder, Hubbard also sideswiped a woman’s car in Weathersfield and shot at it. At the time, he was suffering from delusions, believing spies were chasing him and feeling suspicious of women with brown hair.

Hubbard, a military veteran, has been in mental health facilities since the crime. He was moved to Heartland in 1999 from another facility in Columbus.

In 2018, he attacked a nurse at Heartland after his medication was changed, causing him to hear voices and feel paranoid, thinking the staff was plotting against him, according to reports.