Judge Orders Counsel Pick Trial Date for Mother Accused of Her Children’s Murders on Coventry Road

By Andrew Michaels - July 24, 2023
Court | Daily Stories | Homicides | Suspects | Victims |

A Baltimore City Circuit Court judge ordered counsel to return to reception court next month with a trial date for Jameria Hall, while they await outstanding medical reports.

Hall, 30, is accused of murdering her 8-year-old son, Davin Thomas, and her 6-year-old daughter, Da’Neria Thomas nearly two years ago. She is currently facing two counts each of first-degree murder and first-degree child abuse resulting in death as well as a single count of use of a deadly weapon with the intent to injure for the killing that occurred at the family’s apartment on the 500 block of Coventry Road on Aug. 24, 2021.

During reception court on July 21, defense attorneys Deborah Levi and Mary Pizzo informed Judge Melissa Phinn that they were waiting for additional medical reports to be completed, including a non-criminally responsible (NCR) plea report. Judge Phinn commented that she “didn’t want to keep stringing [the case] along” and asked counsel for a trial date in the meantime.

Neither the prosecution nor the defense could provide a suitable trial date on Friday, so Judge Phinn scheduled them to return on Aug. 4.

Hall was initially found incompetent to stand trial in September 2021 in connection to her children’s murders. According to charging documents, Baltimore Police Department officers were called on Aug. 24, 2021, after a maintenance employee was instructed by his manager to check on “a foul smell” coming from the apartment and found the children’s decomposing bodies. 

Davin was found lying face down in a sleeping bag with a knife stuck in his chest and a black trash bag tied around his head, while Da’Neria was found lying face up in a bathtub with a piece of clothing around her neck.

Neighbors later told police that they heard someone—believed to be Da’Neria—screaming, “Mommy, no!” on the evening of Aug. 19, 2021, and into the next morning. Charging documents state that the children’s father told police that he last saw Hall on Aug. 24, 2021, screaming and cursing at no one as she was walking near North Avenue and Bloomingdale Road.

The following day, police learned Hall was in an Uber on the way to Philadelphia Road and Rossville Boulevard, where she was arrested.