Valeria Smith Sentenced to 5 Years in Prison for Helping Dad Cover Up His Wife's Murder

Valeria Smith, a 31-year-old Baltimore woman, has been sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty to acting as an accessory to lying about how her stepmother died after her father stabbed her then pressured Valeria to join him in a series of lies.

Smith pleaded guilty almost three years ago and has been in prison since then. She was sentenced Monday to five years of the possible 10 years her charges carried, according to The Baltimore Sun.

Valeria Smith, her father Keith and stepmother Jacquelyn Smith were in the car in December 2018 when her father stabbed Jacquelyn to death. Keith Smith was convicted of the crime last week.

He allegedly told his daughter to follow his lead through a series of lies to police and media, claiming his wife was murdered by panhandlers who approached the car while it was stopped and asked for money.

He said Jacquelyn gave $10 to the pair of panhandlers who looked like they had a baby, saying that they then grabbed her necklace and wallet and stabbed her repeatedly.

Valeria Smith testified in her father's trial that her stepmother was asleep in the passenger seat of their car when her father suddenly stabbed her. She also said that while following her father's directions, she abandoned her stepmother's purse in a park.

Over the next several months, investigators grew suspicious as Keith and Valeria Smith occasionally varied in their details, and officers reviewed security video along where they drove that night and didn't see the Smith's car where they said it would be or the alleged panhandlers that conducted the attack.

The pair tried to flee to Mexico as police drew closer to charging them in the homicide, and they were arrested in Texas in September 2019. Valeria pleaded guilty, and her father's trial concluded last week. He was convicted of murder and is set to be sentenced February 28, facing a potential sentence of life in prison.

Smith's version of his wife's slaying drew national attention, as he and his daughter gave tearful interviews. Oprah Winfrey, once a newscaster in Baltimore, tweeted that the tragic case would make her reconsider handing out cash to panhandlers.

Valeria Smith has been incarcerated nearly three years while awaiting sentencing.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.