Keishanna Thomas, charged with killing her daughter Janiya and stuffing her in freezer, will stand trial in Bradenton — for now

Attorneys will have to attempt to find an impartial local jury in the upcoming trial of Keishanna Thomas for the murder of her 11-year-old daughter, Janiya, the presiding judge ruled Tuesday afternoon.

Thomas is charged with first-degree murder, abuse of a dead body and aggravated child abuse in connection to Janiya’s death. If convicted, she would automatically be sentenced to life in prison because the state is not seeking the death penalty.

Her defense team feels Thomas will not get a fair trial in Manatee County because of the publicity the case has garnered locally and nationally.

Circuit Judge Susan Maulucci, presiding over the case, ruled it was a premature request and that there at least needed to be attempt made to select a jury locally before she would reconsider her decision.

Janiya’s body was found on Oct. 18, 2015, inside a cardboard box inside a padlocked freezer in the home of her great-grandmother. Thomas had brought the freezer over days earlier under the guise that she was being evicted and with claims that she didn’t want her meat to spoil or anyone to take it.

Child protective investigators with the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office had first realized that Janiya was missing nearly a month before. Investigators had been called out to the family’s home in response to a report that Thomas had beat her then 12-year-old son. When investigators later went to take all the children into custody, they realized the children were not all accounted for.

Thomas refused to provide investigators specific details about the girl’s whereabouts. It was not until Oct. 16, however, that she was reported officially missing to the Bradenton Police Department following her mother’s arrest. Thomas was initially arrested that day for contempt of court after she refused to tell a judge where Janiya was.

On Tuesday, Assistant Public Defender Franklin Roberts argued that Thomas’ case had gained too much attention and that she had been vilified in those accounts.

“The whole point of all this is a fair trial in front of an impartial jury,” Roberts said.

The Public Defender’s Office’s chief investigator, Beverly Powell, testified regarding a survey she conducted at Robert’s direction. Powell and other investigators went door-to-door in Lakewood Ranch, on Anna Maria Island and in south Manatee County and were able to survey 96 people from 90 households.

Those surveyed were asked about biographical information to determine if they were eligible potential jurors. They were also asked what of anything they knew about the case from media accounts or conversations with others, if they knew Thomas had been charged with the murder and whether they had already formed an opinion of the case.

According to Roberts, 50 percent of those surveyed felt they could be impartial, and 50 percent said they could not be.

“An opinion doesn’t necessarily mean a fixed opinion,” Assistant State Attorney Art Brown argued.

Brown used the recent trial of Andres “Andy” Avalos Jr., convicted of three counts of first-degree murder, as an example, saying that case had received just as much attention and attorneys were still able to select a jury without relocating the trial.

The Avalos trial also had the added element of the death penalty, which made the jury selection process more difficult, Brown added, saying that is not the case with Thomas.

Thomas is set to stand trial beginning Aug. 21.

This story was originally published June 28, 2017 at 7:54 AM with the headline "Keishanna Thomas, charged with killing her daughter Janiya and stuffing her in freezer, will stand trial in Bradenton — for now."