Mother convicted of first degree murder, torture of 3-year old daughter

A mother was convicted of the first degree murder of her 3- year old daughter by a jury at Sacramento Superior Court.

The verdict, which was issued yesterday, found Angela Phakin, 29, guilty of the June 2017 murder of her daughter Maiya. Phakhin was alos found guilty under a theory of premeditated and deliberate murder and felony murder torture.

Phakin and her then boyfriend Untwan Smith, 48, arrived in California from Arkansas in the late winter of 2017. Over a two-week period in June of the same year, Phakhin and Smith exposed Maiya to extreme summer temperatures. 

One day, they left Maiya in a car for over 4 hours and on a second day she was left a car for 9 hours at a Rancho Cordova park, which led to her death. Phakhin had been warned repeatedly to protect Maiya and was advised to take her to a cooling shelter, but she did not accept the offers. 

After Maiya’s death, Phakhin told law enforcement that she and Smith were trying to remove the lustful demons from Maiya.

Phakhin faces a maximum sentence of 25 years to life in prison at her next hearing on July 19, 2019. Untwan Smith is pending trial on the same charges.