Mother Accepts Guilty Plea For Infanticide

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Defendant Aurielle Angelique Montgomery, 23, pleaded guilty to the second-degree murder of her infant child, 1-year-old Nyemia Gilliard, on May 5. Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Jennifer B. Schiffer presided over the hearing.

Montgomery accepted a plea deal of 40 years for second-degree murder, suspending all but 22 years, and three years of probation. As part of the deal, counsel agreed to drop her remaining charges, which included first-degree child abuse resulting in severe physical injury and the death of a child under 13, as well as second-degree abuse of a child by a custodian. She was arrested May 11, 2023, at her Pikesville residence.

According to charging documents, on Oct. 4, 2022, Baltimore Police Department (BPD) officers responded to the 2700 block of Ellicott Drive for a report of an unresponsive baby.

Montgomery is believed to have put Gilliard to sleep in her bedroom the night before, on Oct. 3, 2022. Montgomery’s boyfriend, who is not Gilliard’s father, allegedly found Gilliard unconscious later that night. She was on her back with her legs bent under her, unresponsive and cold to the touch. Despite lifesaving measures, medics pronounced her deceased on the scene.

Medical examiners observed multiple points of internal bleedings on Gilliard’s body, including broken ribs and a damaged kidney. Her cause of death was determined to be homicide by trauma.

Montgomery, who is represented by defense attorney Alex Leikus, is set to return to court in July for a sentencing hearing before Judge Schiffer.