BELFAST — The second portion of the fifth day of the trial against Sharon Carrillo was largely spent with her attorney, Chris MacLean, cross-examining Maine State Police Detective Jason Andrews about his interviews. 

During his cross-examination of Andrews, MacLean said the only aspect that supported his client’s involvement in the abuse were her own words. MacLean went through the pile of evidence submitted so far in the case, asking if anything conclusively showed that Sharon Carrillo participated in the abuse against her daughter. 

Andrews acknowledged that Sharon’s words were the only evidence that directly linked her to Marissa’s abuse and ultimate death. 

Carillo was interviewed by Detectives Scott Quintero and Jason Andrews the day that Marissa died, while Andrews was the lone interviewer of Sharon and Julio the day after Marissa’s death. 

MacLean pointed out that for the entire first hour-long detective interview with Sharon she stuck to her story concerning cell phone messages from her stepmother, telling detectives Julio would be the one to ask about what happened to Marissa. The detectives then allowed Sharon to sit with her children while they interviewed Julio. 

According to MacLean, Julio was led to believe that Sharon had “spilled the beans” prior to detectives talking with him. Julio reportedly admitted the abuse Marissa was subjected to but claimed it was perpetrated by both him and Sharon. 

When detectives returned to talk with Sharon, Quintero told her Julio was 100 percent honest with them. This is repeated multiple times throughout the interview, that Julio told them the truth but Sharon continued to lie. 

MacLean said that Sharon never said she was involved until after she was made to believe Julio had told them so. 

Themes were also a topic during MacLean’s cross-examination, including that of being triggered, which MacLean said Sharon used throughout the interviews.

MacLean said Sharon had said their outbursts of screaming and crying were never triggered by each other and Sharon and Julio were never triggered to react at the same time.

Andrews agreed this was a theme during interviews, but when MacLean said Julio was the common theme in whatever precipitated Marissa or Sharon to have an outburst. Sharon said in one of her interviews that the thing that triggered her outbursts was being asked about sexual abuse that happened to her when she was eight.

Sharon also said in the interviews that Julio had asked about what happened when she was eight in the weeks prior to Marissa’s death, triggering an outburst. 

MacLean said that one of the techniques used in interrogations is to tell interviewees some of the information law enforcement already has, “which is suggestive to the person being interviewed that you have evidence that they’re guilty of something.”

Andrews responded that it depends on the situation. 

MacLean also talked about the styles of interrogation used, saying Quintero used a confrontational approach during the first interview.

That included telling Sharon that Julio was an honest guy, and challenged Sharon every time she denied taking part in the abuse.

MacLean said that at no point did Sharon provide any information to detectives that wasn’t first provided to her. MacLean went back over the transcript of the interview in detail, noting the many places where Sharon was told about abuse Marissa suffered before admitting taking part. 

MacLean noted that when Andrews interviewed Sharon the following day, using a more relaxed style, she reverted to denying participating in Marissa’s abuse. When Andrews raised his voice and became more confrontational, Sharon began to answer his questions and accusations in the affirmative, said McLean.

According to MacLean, Sharon never admitted doing anything beyond what had been provided to her, and in many places agreed with detectives during the multiple interviews, but never added anything new to the conversation. 

MacLean asked Andrews whether he had any training in false confessions, noting that individuals with learning disabilities, afflicted with mental health issues, or have been the victim of domestic violence are susceptible to false confessions. MacLean pointed out that in one of the interviews Sharon Carrillo had in fact falsely confessed that there were no text messages. 

According to MacLean, texts were found on Julio’s phone that contained messages that matched Sharon’s descriptions. Despite the message's existence, they were not sent from Sharon’s stepmother and appeared to have been created on the very phone Julio claimed had received them.

MacLean reviewed the printed transcripts of the interrogation audio and video so that jurors and Andrews could see the words while he continued his cross-examination. 

MacLean told the jury Sharon said during the interview that she never put Marissa on her knees, that she never slapped her in the face, that Sharon also denied hitting Marissa in the head and ribs. Eventually, Sharon began answering the questions otherwise, although she still required coaxing from the detectives. 

MacLean cited a statement made by Quintero at the start of the second interview with Marissa, which was held the same day Marissa died but after detectives questioned Julio for the first time. 

“That’s an honest man you’ve got there, he went full circle with us, he cleared the air,” Quintero said to Sharon as he entered the room, said MacLean.

“Then Detective Quintero started providing information,” MacLean said, going through the transcript to provide every example of where Quintero revealed a new method of abuse Sharon, which Sharon initially denied, but eventually began to agree with the narrative used by detectives Quintero and Andrews.  

Sharon repeatedly denied the abuse, only to be interrupted by Quintero, said MacLean.

MacLean noted that when Sharon was interviewed a third time, the day after Marissa’s death, it was only Andrews who was asking questions, and the tone of the interview was different than the approach used by Quintero. 

Andrews began the interview calmly; however, that changed when Sharon again denied actions she had admitted to in the prior interview. An hour into the interview Andrews’ tone became more confrontational, said MacLean.

“[Sharon] wasn’t endorsing the things she was with [Det. Quintero],” MacLean told the courtroom. “You changed her tone with her when that became the case…. It was only when you took a confrontational tone and said she wasn’t being honest that she started agreeing.” 

Andrews responded that he, “called [Sharon’s] bluff.” 

In the interview, Sharon also initially denied hitting Marissa after Marissa told Sharon she thought she was dying, with Andrews responding by telling her that wasn’t true, before repeating the statement at a louder volume. MacLean said Andrews had even noted at the end of his interview with Sharon that he had raised his voice a couple of times, but that he was not mad at Sharon. 

MacLean ended his cross-examination by returning to the topic of the text messages Sharon believed Julio had received from her stepmother, texts that detectives were able to get Sharon to admit had been fabricated. 

“You’ve seen those [text] messages, right?” MacLean asked Andrews, to which he responded in the affirmative. 

MacLean continued: “You got Sharon Carrillo to admit that there were no text messages, but we know today that there were text messages. So she falsely confessed to you that there weren’t text messages, right?”

“Correct,” Andrews responded. 

In redirect, which means the second time a respective attorney has examined the witness, Assistant Attorney General Donald Macomber said Sharon lied for the duration of her first interview and admitted lying to Andrews during the interview (the third) she taking part in at that moment. 

“So for two hours she was telling you a lie, admitted lying in that very interview because she didn’t want to get in trouble,” Macomber said.

“Correct,” answered Andrews. 

Following a brief re-cross-examination by Attorney MacLean, the State rested its case.

Erica Thoms can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com