Grundy Center, Iowa (CNN) — An Iowa jury found Thursday that a mother with a history of depression knew right from wrong when she slashed her sons’ throats, killing one and leaving the other permanently scarred.
Michelle Kehoe of Coralville, Iowa, broke into tears as the jury of eight women and four men found her guilty of first-degree murder, attempted murder and child endangerment causing serious injury. The jury deliberated for just and hour and 40 minutes.
Kehoe faces a sentence of life in prison without parole.
Kehoe’s attorneys presented an insanity defense, arguing that she believed she was trying to save her sons from a life of suffering when she cut their throats and her own. Her first suicide attempt occurred in 1996, according to testimony.
Prosecutors countered that Kehoe methodically planned to kill her sons and herself, but botched it. The detailed planning showed she was not legally insane, Iowa Attorney General Andrew Prosser said.
The trial’s dramatic highlight came as prosecutors played an audiotape of the surviving son’s police statement. The boy, now 8, described how his mother slashed his throat, then moved on to his younger brother.
“She cut me,” the boy said in a high-pitched voice.
