Man Accepts 15 Year Plea for Girlfriend’s Attempted Murder in 2022

By Andrew Michaels - January 17, 2024
Attempted Murder | Court | Daily Stories | Non-Fatal Shooting | Shooting | Suspects |

A 29-year-old Baltimore man pleaded guilty to the attempted murder of his girlfriend following an agreement between defense counsel and the prosecution on Jan. 17.

Samal Chavis accepted the assistant state’s attorney’s plea offer of 65 years, suspending all but 15 years, for the attempted first-degree murder of his girlfriend on March 21, 2022. The defendant, who was represented by Warren Brown, currently has two years of credited time served.

The plea hearing occurred before Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Dana M. Middleton.

According to charging documents, the victim told a Baltimore Police Department (BPD) detective that Chavis followed her from work and shot her on the 2900 block of Stafford Street. The same detective reported he was on the 400 block of Font Hill Avenue around 9:24 p.m. when he heard shots fired and found the victim in the driver’s seat of a vehicle nearby.

The woman had her hand on her head and blood covering her face, court documents state, as she told police what happened. Police later found seven shell casings at the crime scene.

The victim also identified Chavis as her boyfriend and the shooter during a photo array.

This plea agreement comes nearly a year after the prosecution offered Chavis a plea of life, suspending all but 25 years, with five years supervised probation for the same charge in February 2023, which the defendant rejected.

In addition to attempted first-degree murder, Chavis also faced charges of attempted second-degree murder, first and second-degree assault, firearm use in a felony or violent crime, reckless endangerment from a car, having a handgun in a vehicle, having a loaded handgun in a vehicle, having a handgun on his person and having a loaded handgun on his person.