DONALDSONVILLE — A Donaldsonville woman who confessed a violent home invasion to an Ascension Parish Sheriff's deputy that was also her pastor was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Peggy Valentine, 44, was sentenced for an October 2023 conviction of attempted first degree murder and home invasion in a violent attack of Jessica Frazier, 56, who was reportedly the mother of a woman who had recently given birth to Valentine's ex-fiancé's child.

Dressed in all-black and armed with a box cutter she brought from work, Valentine broke into the woman's home and slashed her multiple times in the woman's bedroom early in the morning on May 4, 2022. Ascension Parish Sheriff's deputies arrested Valentine after she confessed to the stabbing.

When she was convicted, The Advocate reported that Valentine's confession to Maj. Darryl Smith, her personal pastor, was used as smoking gun evidence in the trial. She specifically asked to speak with him as deputies locked in on her as a suspect.

Valentine's lawyers attempted to get the conversation, which they argued was covered by "clergyman-penitent privilege," stricken from the record. The notion was overruled and Valentine was convicted.

Valentine's previously scheduled sentencing hearing on Feb. 27 was delayed due to a fentanyl overdose in Ascension Parish Prison last month.