Pawtucket woman sentenced to life in prison for New Year’s Day 2020 murder

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) – A Pawtucket woman has been sentenced to life in prison for a murder on New Year’s Day of 2020, Attorney General Peter F. Neronha announced Thursday.

Shalyn Moran, 20, plead guilty to killing Cheryl Smith in her Pawtucket home. Moran was also sentenced to an additional 10 years for carrying a pistol without a license and conspiring to commit murder.

According to the Attorney General’s Office, Moran and her boyfriend, Jack Doherty, conspired to attack Moran’s ex-boyfriend through conversations over text and the phone.

Doherty went to the home of Moran’s ex-boyfriend, after he and Moran left a New Year’s Eve party, with a 9mm pistol, planning to shoot whoever answered the door. Cheryl Smith opened the door after Doherty knocked, and he shot her four times before fleeing the scene. She was pronounced dead at the hospital.

Moran and Doherty were arrested several hours later as they were exiting their hotel room in Pawtucket. Doherty was still in possession of the pistol.