A California woman has been sentenced to 25 years to life inprison for killing her three-year-old daughter, who was left in a hot car fornearly 10 hours to cleanse her of demons, officials said.
Angela Phakhin had been convicted in June of the first-degreemurder of Maiya and the sentence was pronounced last Friday, the districtattorney’s office in Sacramento said.
Phakhin’s fiance, Untwan Smith, has also been charged in thecase and is awaiting trial.
The pair moved to California in February 2016 from Arkansasand were living in their car, authorities said.
Over a two-week period in June 2017, the couple subjectedMaiya to extreme summer temperatures, they added.
On one occasion, she was left in a car for four-and-a-halfhours and the next day for nine-and-a-half hours, which resulted in her death,prosecutors said.
“Phakhin had been warned repeatedly to protect Maiyaand was advised to take her to a cooling shelter, but she did not accept theoffers,” prosecutors said. “After Maiya’s death, Phakhin told lawenforcement that she and Smith were trying to remove the lustful demons fromMaiya.”
Phakhin and Smith were arrested on June 28, 2017 in RanchoCordova, north of San Francisco, after their SUV was spotted by police parkedthe wrong way.
Officers began searching the car after a records checkrevealed that Smith had an outstanding warrant in Arkansas.
Maiya was found underneath blankets in the back seat and waspronounced dead at the scene.