A New York man who shot and killed the mother of his fiancée's ex-boyfriend in Rhode Island on New Year's Day in 2020 has been sentenced to two consecutive life terms, prosecutors said.
Jack Doherty, 27, was sentenced in Providence County Superior Court on Tuesday in the death of Cheryl Smith, 54, who was shot four times when she answered the door of her Pawtucket home on Jan. 1, 2020.
Doherty proposed to Shaylyn Moran on New Year's Eve, and the pair developed a plan to kill anyone who answered the door at the home where Moran’s ex-boyfriend lived, prosecutors said.
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Doherty went to the home on Moran's instructions, knocked on the door and shot Smith, prosecutors said. The couple was tracked down at a local hotel hours later.
Moran pleaded guilty in August 2021 to murder and was sentenced to life in prison.
Doherty was convicted in November by a jury that rejected an insanity defense and found him guilty of murder and gun charges.
"New Year’s Day, for many, typically symbolizes new beginnings and renewed promise for the year ahead," Attorney General Peter Neronha said. "This was not the case for Cheryl Smith when she was senselessly murdered by the defendant."
