(NEWS CENTER Maine) — Sharon Carrillo, one of the parents accused in the beating death of her 10-year-old daughter, is herself the victim of some “horrific abuse,” according to her court-appointed attorney, Chris MacLean.
“She was a battered woman and Julio [Carrillo] is a complete monster,” said MacLean Friday from his office in Camden, Maine.
Sharon Carrillo, 33, is accused with her husband, 51-year-old Julio Carrillo, of repeatedly beating Marissa Kennedy over a period of at least four months. Beatings so severe Kennedy’s autopsy report revealed she had a lacerated liver.
The final beating was fatal. Kennedy died Sunday in the Stockton Springs home of her grandparents where the Carrillo family had been living since late summer. Prosecutors say the couple attempted to hide the killing by staging a scene in the boiler room to make it appear as though Kennedy had hurt herself.
“She was a victim of what was happening in that house,” said MacLean.
MacLean said from the initial information his team has gathered; he believes Sharon Carrillo was routinely beaten by a controlling husband who may have manipulated her over the years to take part in the abuse of her oldest child. Julio Carrillo was Kennedy’s step-father. The couple has two younger children, ages 2 and 1 and a baby due in May.
Steve Peterson, the attorney for Julio Carrillo, said although he has only been able to spend about 30 minutes with his client, Julio Carrillo “seemed very concerned about his wife’s well-being” and “missed the fact that he couldn’t hug her.”