GRUNDY CENTER, Iowa–On Thursday afternoon, after approximately one and a half hours of deliberation, a jury in Grundy Center, Iowa convicted defendant Michelle Kehoe of the first-degree murder of her two-year-old son Seth in October, 2008. Kehoe was also convicted of attempted murder for assaulting her seven-year-old son, Seth. Both boys had their throats slashed by their mother.

Kehoe now faces a mandatory life in prison without the possibility of parole. She will be officially sentenced on December 15.

–Michael Christian, IN SESSION senior field producer

INDEPENDENCE, Iowa–The trial of Michelle Kehoe, charged with murdering one son and attempting to murder another, began Wednesday in the small Iowa farm town of Grundy Center. Prosecutors claim that Kehoe meticulously planned the crimes, savagely slashing the throats of two-year-old Seth Kehoe (who died) and seven-year-old Sean Kehoe (who survived to identify his mother as his attacker) – acts she originally blamed on an unknown assailant.

To help prove its case, the State of Iowa called 10 witnesses. Most of them had contact with Sean Kehoe immediately after his ordeal. They all testified that Sean told them that his mother had driven to a remote location, covered his eyes with duct tape, and then slit his throat – after which, according to the youngster, she attacked his baby brother, Seth.

The defense has not contested the testimony of any of these prosecution witnesses; Kehoe’s attorneys concede that she is indeed the person who attacked her sons. But they will argue that Kehoe was legally insane at the time, and should therefore be acquitted.

Stay tuned to In Session for gavel-to-gavel coverage of this case.

–Michael Christian, In Session senior field producer

CANTON, Mississippi–The same panel of jurors that convicted a former middle-school teacher of two counts of capital murder spared her life Wednesday.

Carla Hughes, 28, who prosecutors say fatally shot, stabbed, and slashed a pregnant Avis Banks in November 2006, could have received a death sentence. Now, she will spend the rest of her life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The jurors deliberated less than one hour before reaching their unanimous decision. Hughes was sentenced immediately after jurors were dismissed. She will serve the life sentences concurrently.

You can see complete coverage of the case Thursday on In Session.

–Nancy Leung, In Session field producer

MIAMI, Florida–After deliberating for nearly two hours Wednesday, jurors retired for the day. The panel will resume their deliberations this morning at 10 a.m. ET.

Stay tuned to In Session for complete verdict coverage of the murder case against Damon Darling. Nine-year-old Sherdavia Jenkins was killed on July 1, 2006 by a bullet fired from an AK-47 that prosecutors say Darling fired during a shootout with another man.

–Grace Wong, In Session senior field producer

SARASOTA, Florida–A Sarasota County jury has found Michael King guilty of first-degree murder, kidnapping, and sexual battery. The victim, 21-year-old Denise Lee, was missing for two days before her body was found buried in a grave in January 2008.

Michael King

Several calls to 911, including one by Lee herself were made the day she was reported missing.

Lee's family cried silently in the gallery as the verdict was read. The defendant showed no reaction. The jury panel of seven women and five men deliberated for about two hours before reaching a verdict.

King now faces the death penalty. That phase of the trial will be televised live on In Session next week.

–Nancy Leung, In Session field producer

NEW YORK–Lots of things may have been unclear during the trial of O.J. Simpson and Clarence "C.J." Stewart last fall – who went where, who intended what, and how much alcohol was involved – but one blatantly obvious thing to all of us there was this; there was an awful lot of frustration in that courtroom.

O.J. Simpson

Defense attorneys were back in court Monday, to argue before a panel of Nevada State Supreme Court justices that the trial had been botched, and that their clients should be free on bond while appeals are pending.

Simpson was convicted of kidnapping and robbery in October of last year, after allegedly orchestrating a “sting” for long lost memorabilia in a low-end Las Vegas hotel room. Of his five companions during the incident, only Stewart remained at the defense table with the notorious former football great; the rest struck deals with the state, and testified. Stewart, too, was convicted on all counts.

Before the State Supreme Court Monday, Simpson’s long-time attorney, Yale Galanter called the trial a “sham.” He and Brent Bryson, representing Stewart, recalled the thunderous admonitions they drew from trial judge Jackie Glass as she tired of their arguments. (Glass’ “No, no, no, NO, NO – stop, stop, STOP, STOP!” remains a sound bite of epic proportions.)

Galanter irked Glass with shrieks about the prejudicial nature of Simpson’s past; hard to maneuver around in a case that centered on valuable property allegedly kept from the family of murder victim Ron Goldman. Bryson doggedly pushed the issue of severance, arguing his client should be granted a separate trial. Monday, Bryson suggested the list of hypothetical codefendants more prejudicial than the former football great was a short one; Hitler, Manson, and Satan among them.

The three-justice panel did not indicate when it will reach a decision on whether the pair will be set free – and for now, the 62-year-old Simpson and his former golfing buddy remained locked away at separate Nevada facilities.

When O.J. Simpson entered the courtroom for his sentencing last December, the toll on him was already obvious; weary and thin, he was the specter of the defendant we saw at trial – the man who, in spite of injuries and age, strode with vigor and perched himself on the courtroom bar in breaks to banter with anyone who had anything to say about football. Since that time, he has lost one steadfast supporter; his younger sister Carmelita Simpson-Durio passed away in April.

Stewart, now 55, appeared mostly stunned by the guilty verdicts against him, and told In Session he was ready to fight his way through the appellate courts tooth and nail.

When correspondent Jean Casarez and I met with him in the Las Vegas jail a few weeks after the verdict, the Louisiana expat mused on the food of his native state with a sparkle in his eyes. “I wish I could make my own breakfast,” he said. “This ain’t no place to be.”  It’s unlikely Stewart will get to tuck into a plate of Cajun treats any time soon, but for now, at least, a possibility. 

–Lena Jakobsson, In Session field producer

NASHVILLE, Tennessee–More than three decades after Marcia Trimble disappeared while delivering Girl Scout cookies, Jerome Barrett was convicted of second-degree murder Saturday by a Nashville jury.

Jerome Barrett listens as jury delivers guilty verdict

The unsolved killing of nine-year-old Trimble – who mysteriously vanished in February 1975, only to be found dead 33 days later – haunted an entire generation of Nashville citizens.

After finding Barrett guilty of two counts of murder, jurors then set punishment at 44 years in prison. The panel deliberated for eight and a half hours over two days before reaching their verdict Saturday morning.

Watch In Session's complete verdict coverage Monday beginning at 9 a.m.

–Michael Christian, senior field producer

NEW YORK–More than three decades after a child disappeared while distributing Girl Scout cookies, Jerome Barrett sits in a Nashville courtroom charged with her murder. The unsolved killing of Marcia Trimble – who mysteriously vanished in February, 1975, only to be found dead 33 days later – haunted an entire generation of Nashville citizens. But is Barrett – a man already convicted of another 1975 murder – really the person who strangled Trimble over 34 years ago?

Virginia Trimble Ritter, the mother of the victim, was the first witness called by the prosecution

Law enforcement officials who worked on this case over the years are expected to testify today.

The most poignant witness to testify Wednesday was Virginia Trimble Ritter, the mother of Marcia Trimble. She recalled how her daughter left the family home around 5:20 pm on March 25, 1975.

“She was walking out the back door . . . she said, ‘Mom, Mrs. Maxwell is home, and I’m going to take her her cookies’ . . . I said, ‘Put your coat on, honey,’ because it was a little cold outside. And she said, ‘Oh, Mama, I don’t need my coat, because I’ll be right back.’”

But, of course, Marcia Trimble didn’t return. After searching the neighborhood for her, the family called the police. “I went to Marcia’s room, and knelt down by her bed and prayed. I started praying that day, and I haven’t stopped.”

Finally, on March 30 – Easter Sunday – the family’s worst fears were realized. “We left church to come home . . . they called the church and talked to the pastor and told him not to tell us, but to follow us home, which he did . . . when we pulled up, [a police officer] came out to our car and said, ‘We have news.’ I could look at his face and tell it was not good news . . . I said, ‘I want to go in and sit and hear the news’ . . . ‘we found Marcia; we found Marcia ... we found her body, and she’s dead.’”

Stay tuned to In Session for complete coverage of this case.

–Michael Christian, In Session senior field producer

NASHVILLE, Tennessee–In Session’s new live trial, starting this morning in Nashville, Tennessee is a case that has haunted the city. For over three decades, the murder of a 9-year-old Girl Scout went unsolved. Then, in 2008, the community was stunned to hear that someone had finally been charged with the killing. But after all those years, do police really have the right man?

Jerome Barrett

On Tuesday, February 25, 1975, a fourth-grader named Marcia Trimble left her home in the Nashville neighborhood of Green Hills to deliver some boxes of previously-ordered Girl Scout cookies. The 9-year-old never returned.

For 33 days, the disappearance of Marcia Trimble was a mystery that gripped the country music capital. Hundreds of volunteers – men and women, young and old, friends and strangers – scoured the town, searching in vain for some sign of the missing child. Bloodhounds attempted to pick up Trimble’s scent, at least one psychic offered advice, and local television stations covered the story relentlessly – all without any result.

Then, on Easter Sunday, everyone’s worst fears were realized. Trimble's body was finally discovered underneath some clutter in a neighbor’s unused garage – only 150 yards from Trimble’s own home. According to authorities, she had been sexually assaulted and strangled; a neck bone was reportedly fractured. Poignantly, the child’s Girl Scout cookie money was missing; cookies themselves were scattered around Trimble’s clothed body.

For 33 years, the murder of Marcia Trimble remained unsolved. It was a mystery that was never forgotten, with yearly media coverage on each anniversary of the child’s disappearance. An entire generation of Nashville children grew up with the fear that what had happened to Trimble could conceivably also happen to them.

The Tennessean newspaper has referred to the death of Marcia Trimble as Tennessee’s version of the JonBenet Ramsey case. “It’s the biggest murder mystery in Nashville history,” said Capt. Mickey Miller, of the Metro Nashville P.D.’s homicide division. “With that crime, we lost our innocence.”

Then, in June 2008, a grand jury indicted a man authorities believe murdered Marcia Trimble over three decades ago. Jerome Sidney Barrett, then 61, had recently been arrested for another cold case, the murder of 19-year-old Vanderbilt University student Sarah Des Prez – a crime which took place on February 2, 1975, only 23 days before Trimble disappeared. A DNA sample taken during the investigation of the Des Prez homicide subsequently linked Barrett to the Trimble murder.

The prosecution’s first-degree murder case against Jerome Barrett hinges in large part on the DNA linking him to the body of Marcia Trimble – DNA evidence that the defense fought unsuccessfully to exclude from this trial. But DNA sometimes cuts both ways – and Barrett’s attorney claims that the evidence in this case strongly suggests that someone else actually committed the Trimble murder.

They also say Barrett, who faces live in prison if convicted, wasn’t in Green Hills on February 25, 1975 and he didn’t kill Marcia Trimble.

Stay tuned to In Session for gavel-to-gavel coverage of this case.

–Michael Christian, In Session senior field producer

BRADENTON, Florida–After deliberating for just over four hours Monday, a jury of 5 men and 7 women found Thomas Fast guilty of first-degree murder and robbery in the 2007 death of his stepmother, Susan Fast.

Thomas Fast reacts to the jury's guilty verdict

One female juror cried after the announcement, while the defendant looked slightly shaken and his neck and face rapidly reddened. Fast was immediately sentenced to life without parole for the murder and a concurrent 15 years with credit for time served for the robbery.

Although Thomas Fast decided not to testify, jurors heard from him Monday via two audiotapes: a police interview and a recorded telephone call he made to his mother from prison.

In his closing argument, prosecutor Art Brown told jurors that for all the talk of drug rings and conspiracies, what really mattered was Thomas Fast’s mindset toward Bruce and Susan Fast. “Now insanity is not a defense in this case,” said Brown “but hostility, even if partially based on delusion, is relevant.”

Defense attorney Frank Roberts, though, was adamant the prosecution’s case made no sense, and focused in on discrepancies like the jewelry that – according to the defense – magically appeared in their client’s duffel bag during a third search of it. “I can only say that planted evidence does happen,” said Roberts. “Who would have put it there, I don’t know. But I know it wasn’t there on the 30th.”

Stay tuned to In Session for the latest verdict coverage with correspondent Jean Casarez.

–In Session staff