Leo Kwaske appeared in court on Friday standing and walking on his own, unlike the last time he appeared in front of a Jackson County judge.

After months of psychiatric treatment, it was ruled in court on Friday that Kwaske can stand trial for the October 2011 murder of 59-year-old Shirley Meeks. Meeks was found dead and decapitated in her Jackson apartment complex, the same complex Kwaske lived in.

The ruling was a big step forward for the prosecution.

"What that legally means is he understands what's going on against him," Jackson County Assistant Prosecutor, Jared Hopkins, said. "He can talk with his attorney and he understands there is a courtroom and that he is a defendant."

After Kwaske was arrested by police, his attorney, before meeting Kwaske, requested he be sent to the Center for Forensic Psychiatry to have a competency test done. Kwaske has a history of mental illness.

The process took more than three months at the center, something Diane Cranston, who works at Lifeways, a community mental health institution in Jackson, says is a grueling process.

"The evaluation consists of a psychiatric test by a psychiatrist," Cranston said. "Within the test there's questions that make it so it's a valid tool because they'll change questions around."

The test will ask the same question in a different way to try and confuse the patient. The patient will then have to answer all the questions accurately and consistently to be cleared competent by the psychiatrist.

Now Kwaske will head back to the center and wait for his trial.

"I don't want people to think that he's just living over there in a lap of luxury," Hopkins said. "The forensic center is basically a maximum security prison."

Kwaske is set for a preliminary examination on March 2.