Expert: Kehoe thought killing sons was right thing to do

Michelle Kehoe's expert witness said today that Kehoe believed killing her 2-year-old son Seth and attempting to kill her 7-year-old son Sean was the right thing to do.

Marilyn Hutchinson, a Kansas City, Mo., psychologist, said Kehoe, who suffers from severe depression, personality and complusive disorder, delusions and other problems, thought suicide was the only way out for her and her sons that day in October 2008 when she slashed the boys' throats in a remote location near Littleton.

Dr. Michael Taylor, a psychiatrist for the prosecution, testified that he had no doubt Kehoe was competent the day she hurt her sons and knew exactly what she was doing.

The defense rested and closing arguments will start at 9 a.m. Thursday in the murder trial of Kehoe, 36, of Coralville. The judge read the jury instructions this afternoon and the jury should start deliberations by noon Thursday.

Hutchinson said most of Kehoe's issues stem from her childhood of physical and mental abuse. She was molested by a step-father and his nephew as a child and betrayed by her mother who chose to abandon her after Kehoe said she was being molested She always felt like something was wrong with her, which is typical for abused children.

Kehoe was obsessed with being a "perfect" mother, Hutchinson said. She dropped out of college because she wanted to be a mother and wife. She wanted to redo her own childhood but it was too overwhelming for her, she said.

Hutchinson explained Kehoe never had the correct medication for her mental illness or the adequate therapy.

The day Kehoe ran her car off the road in Iowa City into the Iowa River in December of 2007 was significant in respect to the Oct. 26 incident, Hutchinson said. She felt guilt over almost killing the boys that day and guilt for putting the rescuers in danger.

Kehoe felt it was proof that she could hurt them.

Hutchinson said Kehoe wanted to kill her children to save them. She thought she could save them from a lifetime of depression that she had and save them from a mother who would commit suicide. Kehoe also wanted to kill them before they reached the age of accountability, so they could go to heaven.

Taylor took a different view of Kehoe. He agreed she had major depressive disorder but she understood the nature and quality of her actions. She didn't have any delusions or halluncinations.She had a precise, methodical plan that day and by making up the story of the "bad man" who kidnapped them showed she knew her actions were wrong.

Kehoe explained to him the events that day of how she put duct tape on the boys eyes so they wouldn't know it was "Mommy" and how she turned Seth around and sliced his throat. She described cutting Sean's throat and how the boys struggled.

Taylor said he asked Kehoe what she would have done if he or a police officer drove by that night and she said she would have stopped and drove to Sumner. "That's inconsistent with a woman who can't tell right from wrong."