Andrea Curry-Demus was suffering from psychosis and was incapable of telling right from wrong when police say she killed a pregnant teenager and cut the baby from the victim's womb, her attorney said this morning.

"She had a tragic break with reality — which is the same as a psychotic episode," said Allegheny County Assistant Public Defender Christopher Patarini. "Because of this psychosis she was incapable of knowing what she was doing was wrong."

Lawyers made their opening statements today to Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey A. Manning in the non-jury trial of Curry-Demus, 40, of Wilkinsburg, who is charged with kidnapping Kia Johnson, 18, of McKeesport, binding her wrists and ankles with tape, suffocating her and cutting her son from her womb in July 2008. The child, Terrell Kian Johnson, survived.

"There's no logical reason to cut a baby from another woman's womb," said Patarini, who is seeking a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity.

Deputy District Attorney Mark V. Tranquilli asked Manning to find Curry-Demus guilty of first-degree murder but mentally ill. Such a verdict would essentially be the same as a one of first-degree murder except Curry-Demus would serve her sentence in a secure mental health facility instead of prison.

"The defendant was not mentally insane. She knew what she was doing. She knew what she was doing was wrong," Tranquilli said. "She had been planning this for days."

Tranquilli described to the judge how Curry-Demus faked a pregnancy, including having a baby shower and passing out cards to family members with a picture of an ultrasound of a fetus.

When Curry-Demus arrived at West Penn Hospital in Bloomfield with a newborn, doctors determined she could not have just given birth. She then told police she bought the baby from "a crackhead" for $1,000. Police later found Johnson's decomposing body in a hole in the wall in Curry-Demus' apartment, Tranquilli said.

Curry-Demus later told police two friends came over to her apartment while Johnson was there, drugged Johnson and then operated on her — taking her baby and giving it to Curry-Demus, Tranquilli said.

Curry-Demus' mother, Sharon Curry, testified that she thought her daughter was pregnant and kept the picture of the ultrasound on her refrigerator. She cried throughout much of today's testimony. She said that a person she thought was a doctor called her home and told her that Curry-Demus was pregnant months before the incident.

"I was happy. I was on cloud nine," Curry testified. "I started telling everybody (that her daughter was pregnant)."

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