LISBON — The Salem-area woman accused of failing to tell her sexual partners she was HIV-positive has been found mentally competent to stand trial.

Lisa A. Mutter, 41, of Benton Road, has been charged in Columbiana County Common Pleas Court with felonious assault for failing to disclose she had HIV before engaging in sex with nine unnamed men between May and July 2014. HIV causes Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS).

Mutter’s public defender filed a motion several months ago seeking an examination to determine if she was mentally competent to stand trial. At a hearing held Thursday, Judge Scott Washam said he had the results of the mental evaluation performed by the Forensic Psychiatric Center of Northeast Ohio, which determined Mutter was competent and understood the nature of the charges against her and was capable of assisting in her defense.

Washam then scheduled the case for trial on Jan. 8, which was done in part at the request of Mutter’s attorney, public defender Coleen Hall Dailey.

Dailey said the Ohio Supreme Court is likely to rule before the end of the year on an appeal by an Akron man challenging the state law that allows people to be charged with felonious assault for failing to disclose they are HIV-positive before having sex with another person. Dailey maintains the ruling could have an impact on the case, and Chief Assistant County Prosecutor John Gamble did not object to the trial being scheduled in 2018.

Mutter also faces felonious assault charges in Trumbull County for failing to inform a sexual partner there she was HIV-positive.

In other court news, the sentencing hearing for Kimberly I. Mutersbaugh, 51, of East Lincoln Way, Lisbon, has been moved from Aug. 24 to Sept. 15. Mutersbaugh is accused of smuggling heroin and oxycondone into the county jail in August 2016, which occurred while she was being booked on another charge.