25-Year-Old Homicide Defendant Rejects Plea

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A 25-year-old Baltimore man rejected a plea offer during reception court Sept. 27 before Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Melissa M. Phinn.

Devon Sample is charged with three counts of first-degree murder, one count of committing a crime of violence against a pregnant person, three counts of use of a firearm in a violent crime, having a handgun in a vehicle, and having a handgun on his person.

He was charged in connection to an incident on June 18, 2020.

Judge Phinn listened as the prosecutor presented a plea requiring the defendant to plead guilty to the indictment, offering life without parole for first-degree murder.

The defendant and his defense attorney, Roland Brown, rejected the plea offer. In addition, Sample decided to keep his Hick’s date, which is his right to be tried within 180 days of his first court appearance.

According to CBS Baltimore, Sample was charged in the death of Shiand Miller and her three-year-old daughter, Shaniya Gilmore. After being arrested, Sample had a bail review hearing on June 22, 2020, when his public defender proclaimed his innocence.

Sample was taken into custody shortly after the bodies of the woman and toddler were found inside a car on the 200 block of Boswell Street in Southwest Baltimore.

Miller was eight months pregnant, and Sample is the father of her unborn baby.

Police also found Sample with records showing he had been pulled over a month before the incident in the same car Shiand and Shaniya were found dead.

Sample is charged with 16 counts, including first-degree murder, and his trial has been scheduled for March 21, 2022.