The grandmothers of 1-year-old Nyemia Gilliard found themselves sitting on the opposite sides of a courtroom in Baltimore on Wednesday for what everyone agreed was a tragic case.

On Oct. 4, 2022, Baltimore Police were called to a home on Ellicott Driveway near Strayer Court in Southwest Baltimore for a child who was not breathing. Officers tried to give first aid to Gilliard but noticed that she was cold to the touch.

Medics later pronounced her dead.

The Maryland Office of the Chief Medical Examiner determined that her cause of death was multiple injuries. The manner of death was homicide.

Gilliard’s mother, Aurielle Montgomery, later pleaded guilty in Baltimore Circuit Court to second-degree depraved heart murder: the killing of another person while acting with an extreme disregard for human life.

Tosha Simms lamented how she was not only losing her granddaughter, but her daughter as well.

Meanwhile, Tennille Byrd described through tears the lasting grief that she has experienced. She also expressed a desire for justice to be served.

“The loss of Nyemia left behind a void in our lives,” Byrd said. “She will forever be missed.”

Stating that the description alone of the injuries was devastating, Circuit Judge Jennifer B. Schiffer later sentenced Montgomery, 24, of Pikesville, to the maximum sentence under a plea agreement: 22 years in prison. She must also spend five years on probation.

“The main purpose for your life once you have a baby is to protect that child,” Schiffer said.

“Nyemia didn’t ask to be born,” she added. “She was defenseless.”

Montgomery appeared in the Clarence M. Mitchell Jr. Courthouse wearing a pink jumpsuit, shackles and handcuffs. Sentencing happened to fall on her birthday.

Schiffer also imposed an additional 18 years in prison that were suspended.

Assistant State’s Attorney Jesse Halvorsen, chief of the Special Victims Unit in the Baltimore State’s Attorney’s Office, pushed for the maximum sentence.

Halvorsen said Montgomery admitted to striking her daughter because she had been acting fussy.

When Halvorsen started to describe that admission, a man in the courtroom stormed out.

Montgomery was also using drugs including K2, ketamine and mushrooms to self-medicate, Halvorsen said. The one place where children should feel safe, he said, is home.

“Society demands consequences,” Halvorsen said. “An innocent child lost her life that night, and it didn’t have to happen.”

Halvorsen prosecuted the case with Assistant State’s Attorney Keera Gilbert.

Meanwhile, Alex Leikus, Montgomery’s attorney, advocated for the minimum sentence under the plea agreement: 10 years in prison.

“Words cannot adequately describe the horror and the tragedy,” Leikus said. “It’s overwhelming.”

Leikus said his client has had a hard life, adding that she also received diagnoses for several mental health conditions, including depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. He described what happened as a “non-thinking act.”

The medical examiner’s office opined that she could have inflicted the injuries in less than 30 seconds, Leikus said.

Montgomery, he said, is a good person who’s remorseful.

Before the sentence was handed down, Montgomery quickly read through a prepared statement and apologized for her actions.

Toward the end of the statement, Montgomery directly addressed her daughter.

Montgomery said she would love her forever.