UPDATE: Jury Seated in Kehoe Trial

Michelle Kehoe, right, talks with her attorney Andrea Dryer, left, after a change of venue hearing at the Buchanan County Courthouse Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2009 in Independence, Iowa. Kehoe is charged with first-degree murder, attempted murder and child endangerment. She's accused of killing her 2-year-old son, Seth, and attempting to kill her 7-year-old son, Sean, in October 2008. (AP Photo/Matthew Putney, Pool)

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By Becky Ogann

Story Created: Oct 28, 2009 at 10:49 AM CST

Story Updated: Oct 28, 2009 at 5:22 PM CST

GRUNDY CENTER - Jury was seated late Wednesday afternoon in the murder trial of Michelle Kehoe in Grundy County District Court.

Opening statements will be 9 a.m. Thursday with testimony following.

There are 12 jurors and three alternates for the trial.

Some of the significant decisions setting up the trial actually came last August.

That's when Kehoe's attorney argued many people in Buchanan County were so familiar with the case...or had opinions... the Coralville woman couldn't get a fair.

The judge even allowed the unusual step of calling a "mock jury" to consider pre-trial publicity. He later ruled the trial would move to Grundy Center.

The prosecution should present a fairly straight forward case, detailing how Michelle Kehoe was driving the family's minivan with the children inside when she went missing. Authorities found Kehoe and her children with knife cuts to the throat. That wound killed the youngest child.

The defense has indicated it will claim insanity. One University of Iowa Psychologist...not connected with the case, say the defense will probably try to get jurors to understand Kehoe's thinking.

"Imagine yourself in a situation where you would actually do that...try to imagine how she understood the world...maybe the defense will take the jury through that intellectual exercise," said Dr. Michael O'Hara, UI Clinical Psychologist.

The psychologist says the defense might claim postpartum depression or present evidence that Michelle Kehoe was prone to delusions.

That we won't know for sure until the defense begins later in the trial.

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