Chicago mom not guilty due to insanity in son’s death

A Cook County judge has ruled a Chicago woman accused of suffocating her eight-month-old son as she battled a postpartum condition was not guilty by reason of insanity.

Judge James Linn called Janet Thies-Keogh a “very, very sick” woman before he rendered his decision Tuesday, after a bench trial.

Prosecutors argued 32-year-old Thies-Keogh planned to kill the baby and had been waiting for the moment to act when her husband left home for a gym Feb. 7, 2011.

However, prosecution witness, Police Sgt. Matt Kennedy, said he sensed Thies-Keogh was not well when he arrived at the couple’s North Side apartment.

Thies-Keogh has been receiving psychiatric care and taking medication while out on bond.

Linn ordered Thies-Keogh to undergo an evaluation by the Illinois Department of Human Services.