PORTLAND, Maine (AP) - Maine’s highest court has rejected an appeal from a woman convicted of murder in the death of her 10-year-old daughter.
Sharon Kennedy and her former husband, Julio Carrillo, were both convicted of murder for beatings that led to the death of Marissa Kennedy. Sharon Kennedy was sentenced to 48 years in prison and Carrillo was sentenced to 55 years.
Sharon Kennedy’s attorney argued that jurors weren’t given the right guidance about how to treat testimony about domestic violence that Sharon Kennedy suffered from her husband. The attorney, Chris MacLean, also argued that Sharon Kennedy’s confession should have been suppressed because of the domestic abuse and her intellectual disabilities.
The Maine Supreme Judicial Court ruled on Thursday that the court “acted well within its discretion in applying and weighing the aggravating and mitigating factors” in arriving at Sharon Kennedy’s maximum, 48-year sentence. One justice dissented.
MacLean did not returned a phone call seeking comment.
Marissa Kennedy died in February 2018 in Stockton Springs. Marissa’s death, and the death of 4-year-old Kendall Chick, led to wide-ranging reforms in the way Maine tries to protect vulnerable children.
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