Jury selection in the case of a Wilkinsburg woman charged with killing a pregnant woman and cutting the fetus from her womb will begin on Thursday.

The case against Andrea Curry-Demus was set to begin today before Allegheny County Common Pleas Administrative Judge Jeffrey A. Manning.

However, public defender Christopher Patarini told the judge he just received the prosecutor's psychiatric report on his client this morning.

The judge gave Mr. Patarini until Thursday to begin jury selection.

Ms. Curry-Demus is charged with killing Kia Johnson in July 2008.

According to police, the defendant met Ms. Johnson, 18, of McKeesport, while both women were visiting inmates at the Allegheny County Jail.

On July 16, Ms. Curry-Demus showed up at West Penn Hospital with a baby boy whose umbilical cord was still attached. She told doctors the baby was hers, but they determined she had not recently given birth.

Two days later, Ms. Johnson's body was found in Ms. Curry-Demus' apartment. She was bound with duct tape and had plastic wrap around her face. Her abdomen had been sliced open.

Ms. Johnson's baby is being cared for by her family.

Mr. Patarini has indicated that he may pursue an insanity defense, but he said he has trouble making his client comprehend that she will have to make factual concessions.

"Sometimes I think she understands them. Sometimes, I'm not sure," he told Judge Manning at a motions hearing this morning.

The judge is expected to rule this afternoon on a motion by Mr. Patarini to exclude evidence of Ms. Curry-Demus' prior convictions. She served several years in prison stemming from an incident in 1990 where she stabbed another woman and stole her infant. The baby was recovered from Ms. Curry-Demus' apartment unharmed.

More details in tomorrow's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

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