Elisa Baker, who murdered and then used a saw to dismember her 10-year-old disabled Australian stepdaughter Zahra Baker, could be slugged with another 20-year jail sentence in North Carolina for conspiring to distribute drugs.
If Judge Richard Voorhees gives Baker the maximum on Monday, it could effectively be a life sentence for the 43-year-old.
The self-described gothic is serving a 15 to 18-year jail sentence for the horrifying 2010 murder of Wagga Wagga-born Zahra, and the federal drug sentence would begin after that term ended.
Baker was facing a first-degree murder charge and potential death sentence for Zahra's killing, but in a controversial deal with prosecutors, she agreed to reveal where she dumped Zahra's body parts in bushland outside their home town of Hickory, North Carolina.
In exchange for the information, Baker entered a guilty plea to second-degree murder and received the 15 to 18-year sentence.
It outraged residents of Hickory and Zahra's family in Australia, but Judge Vorhees may sentence Baker to the 20-year maximum for the charge of conspiring to distribute painkillers and anti-anxiety drugs.
Baker was originally facing seven felony drug charges and a maximum 140-year sentence for selling pills including oxycodone and hydrocodone from three homes between May 2006 to October 2010, including a trailer the family lived in and the small rented house where Zahra went missing in October 2010.
In a deal in January, prosecutors dropped all but the one charge of conspiring to distribute painkillers and anti-anxiety drugs in exchange for Baker's guilty plea.
The sentencing will take place in the US District Court in Statesville, North Carolina.
Zahra, who moved to the US with her father Adam Baker after he met Baker on the internet, had a tragic life.
At the age of five, afflicted with bone cancer, she had her lower left leg amputated and lost her hearing.
Family members also alleged her stepmother abused her before her death.
