Baltimore Man Convicted of Killing Pregnant Girlfriend, Daughter in 2020 on Boswell Avenue

By Andrew Michaels , Racquel Bazos [former] - August 4, 2023
Court | Daily Stories | Homicides | Juveniles | Shooting | Suspects | Victims |

A 26-year-old Baltimore man accused of killing his pregnant girlfriend and her three-year-old daughter was served three consecutive life sentences on Aug. 1, shortly after he was found guilty of the 2020 homicide.

Following a seven-day trial, the jury returned their guilty verdict to Devon Sample on Tuesday, convicting him of three counts of first-degree murder, three counts of firearm use in a crime of violence and committing a violent crime against a pregnant person. Sample requested his sentence happen the same day.

Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Lawrence R. Daniels, who presided over the trial, imposed a sentence of life for each count of first-degree murder, 20 years for each count of firearm use in a crime of violence and 10 years for committing a violent crime against a pregnant person. All sentences will be served consecutively for a total of three life sentences plus 70 years.

Sample’s conviction comes after an emotional trial during which the prosecution detailed how Sample fatally shot Shiand Miller, who was eight months pregnant, and her three-year-old daughter, Shaniya Gilmore, inside of their 2008 Subaru Legacy on the 200 block of Boswell Avenue on June 18, 2020. There bodies were reported the following day.

Miller’s body was found in the driver’s seat with a gunshot wound to the back of her neck and a second gunshot wound, while Gilmore was shot in her back.

Motive did not need to be proven, the prosecutor said, suggesting that Sample did not want this child with Miller.

Two 9mm cartridge casings were found on the ground next to the driver’s side door in addition to a third casing on the rear driver’s side floor. Sample’s grandmother, who testified at trial, previously told Baltimore Police Department officers that her grandson kept a black handgun in his bedroom and she had told him to “get that s— out of my house.”

She “conveniently forgot” her story at trial when she testified that the gun belonged to her, the prosecutor said.

The prosecutor also confronted defense attorney Roland Brown’s argument regarding a used cigarette butt that was found at the scene. At trial and during his closing argument, Brown suggested the cigarette butt must have been relevant since the detective submitted it for DNA analysis. Despite the prosecutor’s argument that the results revealed unknown male DNA, Brown countered that the serologist and a DNA expert did not clarify the age of the cigarette butt.

“All [of the detective’s] actions suggested it was important evidence,” Brown told the jury. If its analysis returned with Sample’s DNA, he added, the detective would have said it looked old.

The prosecutor also reminded jurors of the video surveillance footage and Sample’s statement to police that he got into the front passenger’s seat of Miller’s car to talk to her. There were three muzzle flashes, one of which was not visible likely because the gun was fired at the victim’s neck, he said.

“He left out the part where he killed them,” the prosecutor said, referring to Sample’s police interview.

Brown expressed his disagreement with the prosecution, citing a lack of evidence. The ballistics expert previously testified that the recovered bullets could have some from two different types of handguns, Brown explained, and despite Sample’s grandmother’s testimony, there was no evidence that Sample and Miller had been fighting.

Sample’s own interview with police was, once again, brought into play as Brown questioned his client’s comments about whether Miller and her daughter were OK and his reaction of pain when he learned of their deaths.

“The investigation of anyone else ended once Mr. Sample was arrested,” Brown said.