Baltimore man sentenced to life in prison for two 2021 murders
BALTIMORE - A Baltimore man was sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to two murders.
Gerald Smith was convicted of first-degree murder in the 2021 deaths of Marvis Pollock and Brittaney Hayes-Smith.
"This defendant is a repeat violent offender who took two lives in two days with clearly no regard for humanity or the law," Baltimore City State's Attorney Ivan Bates said. "It is apparent to me that he should never be on the streets of our city again. My heart goes out to the families and community members impacted by these devastating acts of violence."
On May 2, 2021, Baltimore Police officers responded to the 2600 block of West Fairmount Avenue for a shooting where they found Pollock lying in the street from gunshot wounds to his face and upper body. He was taken to the hospital where he died.
During the course of the investigation, detectives identified the suspected shooter as Gerald Smith.
Electronic surveillance of Smith's cell phone revealed his presence on scene at the 2600 block of West Fairmount Avenue at the time of the murder.
Video evidence was also recovered from a convenience store around the corner from the scene, which captured Smith inside the store shortly before the shooting.
Police said the footage showed that Smith then left the store, returned to the vehicle he arrived in, grabbed something from inside the car, and then ran towards the crime scene immediately before people in the block began dispersing.
A witness also positively identified Smith in the surveillance video, and other witnesses who were at the scene at the time of the shooting placed Smith in the 2600 block of West Fairmount at the time of the shooting.
While detectives were on scene at the West Fairmount location, they were informed that the same suspect, Smith, committed a murder on May 3, 2021, in the 2800 block of Clifton Park Terrace.
The Clifton Park Terrace shooting occurred as follows on May 3, 2021.
Officers responded to the 2800 block of Clifton Park Terrace for a report of a non-breathing individual.
Officers met a man at the scene who said that he came to the home to check on the well-being of his daughter, Brittaney Hayes-Smith.
The man found his daughter lying unresponsive on the living room floor. Hayes-Smith was pronounced dead.
On May 4, 2021, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner ruled the death a homicide by gunshot wounds.
The investigation revealed that Hayes-Smith moved out of the residence on Clifton Park Terrace approximately two months prior.
At the time, the home was solely occupied by her estranged husband, Gerald Smith.
On the night of March 1, 2021, witnesses were with Hayes-Smith at a sports bar and restaurant and then left that location with her to go to a friend's home.
Smith found out where Hayes-Smith was located that night and arrived at the sports bar, later following her to her friend's house. Police said Hayes-Smith was last seen leaving her friend's house at 2:15 a.m. and getting into Smith's vehicle with him.
An additional witness told police advised that on May 2, 2021, at approximately 2 a.m., they were outside on their front porch of another Clifton Park Terrace residence and did not see the Smith's car at that time.
The witness told officers they returned to their porch at approximately 4:30 a.m. and observed the Smith's car parked in front of the eventual crime scene, where they also heard four gunshots emanate from.
A search and seizure warrant was executed for the residence, where one 9mm luger shell casing, one 9mm cartridge casing, and 13 9mm luger live rounds were recovered.
Those 9mm casings matched the casings recovered at the murder on 2600 West Fairmount Avenue.
Additionally, a one-way consent phone call was conducted between a witness and Smith, who admitted on the phone to killing Hayes–Smith.
