The attacker, 21-year-old Sharon Morara, of Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, pleaded guilty in March to attempted murder and first-degree burglary for the Nov. 2, 2021 attack. On Friday, District Court Judge Angela Doyle sentenced Morara to up to 25 years in prison, with a 70 percent minimum.

Smith was a young single mother caring for her daughter when Morara and her boyfriend, Marcus Western, broke into Smith’s home in the 2400 block of 12th Avenue South in the early morning hours of Nov. 2, 2021. According to Morara’s own admission in court, the couple drove from Minnesota to Fort Dodge with the intention of ending Smith’s life, and Morara used a knife from Smith’s kitchen to stab her several times.

Smith, who was 21 at the time, had previously been in a relationship with Western and was pregnant with his child at the time of the attack. Smith was critically injured in the stabbing and was transported to a Des Moines hospital with significant injuries. Smith’s older child, who was just shy of two years old at the time, witnessed the attack, but was unharmed. Smith was paralyzed from the waist down, but she and her unborn child survived the attack and all three are now thriving.

Following an investigation, Morara and Western were apprehended in Minnesota about two weeks after the attack. Both parties were charged with attempted murder and first-degree burglary, both Class B felonies. Later, charges of conspiracy to commit murder and assault while participating in a felony, both Class C felonies, were added to both defendants. Western is also charged with domestic abuse assault causing injury, a Class D felony.

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
Lexi Smith addresses defendant Sharon Morara, who pleaded guilty to viciously attacking Smith's daughter, Ciane, in November 2021. Morara's sentencing hearing was held Friday morning at the Webster County Courthouse.

At Morara’s sentencing hearing on Friday, Smith and her mother, Lexi Smith, read their victim impact statements before Doyle handed down the sentence.

“I’ve rewritten this a thousand times — I’ve had a year and six months to figure out what I want to say to you,” Ciane Smith said. “But everytime I think about it, I come up short and it just doesn’t feel like it’s enough. My words are the only thing I have for you to feel a glimpse of the pain you’ve caused me and those around me.”

Morara has a young daughter, also fathered by Western, who won’t have her mother around to watch her grow up, Ciane Smith noted.

“Our lives come with so much hardship already and you just made it even harder for her,” she said. “I still think of her and wish her the very best.”

Lexi Smith said that during the attack, Morara stabbed Ciane Smith eight times with a knife.

“Maybe you don’t understand the terms ‘overkill’ or ‘excessive,'” Lexi Smith said.

Ciane Smith said the viciousness of the attack is “something only a psychopath could do.”

“To be honest, I’m so sad for you,” Ciane Smith said to Morara. “I hurt for you, because we are all so young and had so much life to live. You ruined your life for no reason at all. You stabbed me and broke into my house for no reason at all other than your own insecurities and jealousy, but I wasn’t responsible for that and it’s not fair that I’m included in paying the price.”

The notion of Morara being free is a “scary thought,” Lexi Smith said.

“I am not capable of understanding the type of anger that it takes to drive three hours, break into someone’s home, casually let their dog outside and stab them once, let alone eight times, knowing that that person is pregnant with your child’s sister and has a one-year-old child sitting next to them,” she said. “Then you casually drive three hours back to try to resume your life — that takes a different type of animal and I will never understand that type of person.”

Lexi Smith said Morara had “so many other options” the day of the attack, and still chose to try to end Ciane’s life. Lexi Smith said she doesn’t believe Morara is capable of regret, remorse or change.

“Not once have I heard you say ‘I’m sorry,'” Lexi Smith said. “Not once have I ever heard you say ‘I wish I didn’t do this.’ And they just gave you the opportunity today, and you still didn’t.”

Though Ciane Smith’s life is forever scarred by this nightmare, she still found it within herself to show grace on Friday.

“I pray that your time in here brings healing for you,” she told Morara. “I pray that it changes you into a better woman who loves herself. I hope you become stronger and see the power of real love that lies within you. Because although you didn’t know, I was a good person and wishing anything negative on you only reflects on my character and I refuse to let you ruin one of the last things I have left of myself. Good luck with life.”

As part of the plea agreement with the state, the two remaining charges against Morara were dismissed.

Western’s case remains pending in the courts. Currently, a jury trial is tentatively scheduled for June 13.