Homicide Defendant’s Trial Pushed to December After Defense Counsel Misses Jury Selection

By Alyssia Davis [former] - April 1, 2022
Court | Daily Stories | Homicides | Suspects | Victims |

The jury trial of 26-year-old Devon Sample was delayed eight months on April 1 after his defense attorney did not show up to jury selection nearly two weeks ago when the trial was originally scheduled.

During reception court before Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Melissa M. Phinn, the prosecutor said Sample’s trial was initially scheduled for March 21 before Judge Jennifer B. Schiffer but was postponed when they learned defense attorney Roland Brown was out of the state.

The prosecutor alleged that Brown intentionally “made himself unavailable” as a tact to delay the trial or weaken the state’s presentation.

On Friday, Brown told Judge Phinn that he was trying another case when Sample was scheduled for trial.

Counsel agreed to reschedule Sample’s trial for Dec. 5 before Judge Melissa K. Copeland.

Brown and the prosecutor could not be reached for comment as of Friday afternoon.

Sample is charged with three counts of first-degree murder, committing a crime of violence against a pregnant person, three counts of use of a firearm during a violent crime, and having a handgun on his person and in a vehicle in connection to the death of Shiand Miller and her three-year-old daughter, Shaniya Gilmore, on June 18, 2020. 

The defendant 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, according to CBS Baltimore.

Miller was eight months pregnant with Sample’s child.

In September 2021, Sample was offered a plea to plead guilty to the indictment, offering life without parole for first-degree murder, which he and Brown rejected.