Michael McCarthy was found guilty of second-degree murder in the killing of 'Baby Doe.'
A man charged with killing his girlfriend’s 2-year-old daughter in the highly publicized "Baby Doe" case has been found guilty of second-degree murder.
Michael McCarthy showed no emotion as the verdict was read in a Boston courtroom Monday. Bella Bond was known only as ‘Baby Doe’ for months after her body washed up on a Massachusetts beach in 2015.
Red: Prosecutor: Boyfriend Murdered 'Baby Doe' Because He Thought She Was Possessed by Devil
“Finally, justice for Bella,” the girl’s godmother told CBS Boston outside court. His sentencing is scheduled for Wednesday.
Jurors deliberated for more than 23 hours over five days.
Prosecutors said McCarthy killed the toddler and then put her body in a trash bag and dumped her in the water off south Boston. The child’s mother, Rachelle Bond, pleaded guilty earlier this year to being an accessory after the fact and became the prosecution’s star witness.
She told jurors earlier this month that McCarthy killed her daughter because she didn’t want to go to sleep. “It was her time to die. She was a demon,” McCarthy said, according to Bond’s testimony.
Prosecutor David Deakin said the mother acted “inexcusably,” in keeping quiet about the killing, but said there was no evidence that Bond was a bad mother.
McCarthy’s lawyer called the mother’s testimony “a web of lies” and “unbelievable.”
As part of her plea deal, Bond was sentenced to time served and two years of probation, authorities said.
Read: Dad of 'Baby Doe' Yells at Man Accused of Murdering Her: 'You Are Done!'
Bond and McCarthy were arrested in September 2015 after Bond told a friend McCarthy had killed her daughter, police said.
She acknowledged helping to dispose of the child’s body, and told investigators she didn’t come forward because she was terrified of McCarthy, authorities said.
Both adults were heroin addicts, investigators said. On the night Bella was killed, her mother said she walked into the toddler’s bedroom and saw McCarthy punch her in the stomach.
He hit the child so hard that she bounced off the mattress, Bond said.
Watch: Mom Charged With Homicide After Her Baby Girl Was Found Dead From Salt Poisoning
