A Donaldsonville woman convicted of a bloody home invasion after admitting to the attack to an Ascension Parish sheriff's major — who was also her pastor — has been sentenced to 20 years in state prison.
In late October, an Ascension Parish jury convicted Peggy Valentine, 45, of attempted first-degree murder and home invasion in the brutal attack with a box cutter on the mother of a woman who had recently borne the child of Valentine's ex-fiancé.
Valentine was in the woman's bedroom past 2:30 a.m. when the stabbing attack occurred on May 4, 2022, prosecutors have said.
Before the sentence from Judge Cody Martin, prosecutors had argued for even more prison time, roughly 35 to 40 years, citing Valentine's past criminal history, her victim's continued injury from the attack, Valentine's shifting accounts of what happened and alleged perjury at trial, and failure to accept responsibility.
Assistant District Attorney Brant Mayer also raised Valentine's overdose on fentanyl in Ascension Parish Prison last month that had delayed her previously planned sentencing on Feb. 27.
"She's a danger to herself. She is a danger to the public," Mayer said.
During the overdose, Valentine had to be given Narcan in jail and transported to an area hospital for treatment. Narcan counteracts the effects of opioid overdoses.
Resting on presentencing motions, Valentine's defense attorney promised the confession to Maj. Darryl Smith, which was video-recorded and played twice for jurors, would prompt a sure appeal of the conviction.
One of the motions had asked for a new trial, arguing that the confession Valentine gave to Smith came after she had stopped talking to another investigator and had asked for her pastor.
The court papers argued the confession should have been private but wasn't, and it violated constitutional religious protections and so should not have been presented to the jury.
David Belfield III, Valentine's attorney, raised those same concerns at trial, but Martin allowed the testimony.
Belfield told the judge Tuesday the case has reached this point because Valentine "trusted her pastor."
The judge, Martin, had previously found Valentine had no expectation of privacy because she had asked for and spoke to Smith in an interrogation room while he was in uniform and after she had been read her Miranda rights. Another officer was also in the room.
In handing down the sentence, Martin told the lawyers and the listening audience that he had taken into account Valentine's history, a presentence investigation, and letters from supporters of Valentine and from Valentine's victim, which were filed under seal.
The sentence from the 23rd Judicial District judge didn't appear to satisfy either side.
Members of Valentine's family, who were present for the sentencing Tuesday in Gonzales and were sitting a few rows apart from the victim's family, were upset as some had their heads down and one walked out while Martin read out his sentence.
The victim's family and the victim herself, however, said they felt Valentine should have received more prison time than Martin handed down.
"I'm not satisfied," the victim, Jessica Frazier, 56, who was walking with a cane due to injuries from the attack, said later.
Before the sentencing, Martin had met with the attorneys, Belfield and Mayer, behind closed doors.
After they returned to the courtroom and the sentencing hearing had resumed, Martin announced that he rejected Belfield's motions seeking a new trial and objecting to the recommendations of a presentencing report.
According to Belfield's motion objecting to the report, it had recommended the sentences for the two convictions be served consecutively — or 30 years in total.
Martin did hand down the recommended sentences for each count — 20 years for first-degree murder and 10 years for home invasion — but ordered they be served concurrently, or in parallel, which amounts to 20 years in total.
Under Martin's ruling, Valentine won't have the benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence.
Valentine, a mother and a former restaurant manager, maintained on the stand at her trial last year that she had gone to the home only to catch her ex-fiancé with the mother of his new child. The box cutter, which she had for work at the restaurant, had come out in self-defense, she testified.
In court papers, Valentine's lawyer pointed out that his client and her victim's daughter both testified at trial that Valentine didn't break in but was let inside.
But the daughter gave conflicting testimony on that point, telling prosecutors later that she didn't let Valentine in.
Without explaining exactly how she got inside, prosecutors accused Valentine of parking blocks away from the Frazier home in Donaldsonville, dressing in dark clothes and unscrewing an outdoor light bulb to slip into the home somehow.
