PORTLAND — The Maine Supreme Judicial Court has rejected convicted child murderer Sharon Kennedy’s appeal of that conviction and the 48-year prison sentence.
According to the written decision posted on the state’s highest court’s website Thursday, Kennedy, formerly known as Sharon Carrillo, had argued her conviction should be overturned because statements she made to police should have been excluded, and the judge failed to provide adequate instructions to the jury.
Kennedy’s attorneys also said the trial judge should have granted a mistrial because he let the jury hear about a jailhouse conversation between Kennedy and her cellmate, who was convicted of killing her fiance’s 4-year-old granddaughter.
Associate Justice Joseph Jabar disagreed with the other members of the court and said Kennedy should have been granted a mistrial.
In December 2019, a Waldo County jury convicted Kennedy of murdering her 10-year-old daughter, Marissa Kennedy. Kennedy’s death in February 2018 launched legislative investigations into the state’s child and family services bureau.
