In this March 1, 2018, file image from video, Yoselyn Ortega, a trusted nanny to a well-to-do family, listens to court proceedings during the first day of her trial, in New York. In this March 1, 2018, file image from video, Yoselyn Ortega, a trusted nanny to a well-to-do family, listens to court proceedings during the first day of her trial, in New York. Photo Credit: AP.

The nanny whose attorneys said she committed the grisly slayings of two children while they were in her care at their family's home because the devil told her to do it was found guilty of murder on Wednesday. 

Following a nearly seven-week trial, a Manhattan jury found Yoselyn Ortega, 55, guilty of two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of second-degree murder in the stabbing deaths of 6-year-old Lucia Krim and her 2-year-old brother, Leo Krim in their family's home on the Upper West Side. 

According to a news release from the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, Ortega waited for the children's parents to return home with their two other children before she tried to take her own life.

Ortega had maintained through the trial that she committed the slayings while in the throes of a psychotic episode and that she had taken orders from the devil; according to media reports, Ortega's defense attorneys conceded that she killed the children and put expert witnesses on the stand who testified that Ortega was criminally insane.

But a forensic psychologist who testified for the prosecution presented a videotaped interview with Ortega from 2016 in which she could be heard saying that she did not hear voices before she killed the Krim children, according to media reports.   

In a news conference following the verdict, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. said his office would seek a life sentence for Ortega.

“Today, a jury rightly and finally held Yoselyn Ortega accountable for the horrific slaying of Leo and Lulu Krim,” Vance said. Kevin Krim, the children's father, appeared at Vance's side, but declined to provide a statement.

Assistant District Attorneys Stuart Silbert and Courtney Groves prosecuted the case.

Valerie Van Leer-Greenberg and Evan Van Leer-Greenberg represented Ortega. They could not be immediately reached for comment.

Acting Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Gregory Carro presided over the case. Ortega's sentencing is scheduled for May 14.

Jurors who worked the case spoke with reporters following the verdict, some choking back tears as they described an emotional scene in the deliberation room.  

David Curtis, one of the jurors, said there were some “raised voices” and frustration between the jurors, and there were divisions between them throughout deliberations.

But in the end, Curtis said, the jurors found that “there wasn't enough proof of the affirmative defense.”

“We found that when we balance the testimony of the experts on both sides that we could not find a strongly credible proof that the defendant was not aware and able to recognize what was going on,” Curtis said.