100 Years Jail For Killing 5-Yr-Old Indian Girl in U.S

A 35-year-old man identified as Joseph Lee Smith has been sentenced to 100 years of hard labor for being the cause of death of 5-year-old Indian-origin girl Maya Patel in the state of Louisiana in 2021.

Smith has been sentenced following his conviction in January. At the time of her fatal injury, Maya was playing in a hotel room on Monkhouse Drive when a bullet entered her room and hit her in the head. Maya was rushed to a nearby hospital, where she battled for life for three days and was pronounced dead on March 23, 2021.

Smith was having an altercation in the parking lot of Super 8 Motel owned by Maya’s parents Vimal and Snehal Patel, who lived in the ground floor unit. The judge sentenced Smith to 60 years of hard labor without probation, parole, or reduction of sentence. Alongside, Smith will have to serve 20 years for obstruction of justice and 20 years for aggravated battery for different convictions with regards to Maya’s killing.

The term was based on the fact that Smith was a repeat felony offender.