Michael McCarthy on Monday pleads not guilty to first-degree murder in the killing of 2-year-old Bella Bond.
Graphic details surrounding Bella’s death emerged in an emotion-filled Boston courtroom in September when Bond told her story.
Bella’s body was found in a bag June 25 on a Deer Island shoreline in the Boston Harbor.
Rachelle Bond allegedly told investigators that Michael McCarthy, who was living with her and Bella in Rachelle’s Dorchester apartment, went into Bella’s bedroom one night after the toddler wasn’t settling down for bed.
Rachelle Bond has been charged as an accessory after the fact and pleaded not guilty at her own separate arraignment last week.
McCarthy’s lawyer said in court Monday that the case against his client is “incredibly weak”.
Authorities have not detailed a cause of death for the two-year-old who was long called “Baby Doe” after her body appeared on the shore of Deer Island in June.
‘She saw the defendant sort of half-standing, half-kneeling over the prone girl who was on either the ground or a mattress on the ground and he was moving his arms rapidly around the area of her midsection, ‘ Deakin said.
McCarthy (left) and Bond (right) were charged in connection with the girl’s death in December. She has said she watched McCarthy violently strike and kill her daughter, and her lawyers accuse McCarthy of wielding psychological control over her.
The couple allegedly placed the girl in a plastic bag and dumped her body in the water.
He’s scheduled to be back in court February 16.
Bond previously had two children taken away from her between 2006 and 2011. Rachel Bond was charged as an accessory to murder after the fact.
