Indian-Origin Girl’s Murderer in the US Sentenced to 100 Years in Prison

Joseph Lee Smith, a 35-year-old man from Shreveport, Louisiana, has been sentenced to 100 years of hard labor for the killing of 5-year-old Mya Patel in March 2021. Patel was playing in a hotel room when she was struck in the head by a bullet fired by Smith during an altercation with another man in the parking lot. Smith was convicted in January and sentenced to 60 years without the possibility of probation, parole, or sentence reduction for Patel’s slaying. He was also ordered to serve 20 years each for obstruction of justice and aggravated battery related to Patel’s death. The incident has shocked the local community, and the sentence has been welcomed as a step towards justice for Mya Patel’s family.