Michael Lamont Stewart, a Black/African American man, was shot and killed on April 29, 2007, on Early Oaks Lane in Capitol Heights, Maryland. An autopsy found he sustained five gunshot wounds and that some shots had been fired at close range; the cause of death was listed as multiple gunshot wounds.

The shooting was part of an incident that also left another man, Duane Edward Nichols, dead and a third person, Darryl Fitzgerald, injured. Davon Nathan Markham was indicted by a Prince George’s County grand jury on June 28, 2007, on charges including the murders of Stewart and Nichols, the attempted murder of Fitzgerald, and three counts of using a handgun during the commission of a felony. Fingerprints from the vehicle in which Stewart was shot were identified as belonging to Markham.

Markham’s trial was delayed in late 2007 for a competency evaluation and later took place in February 2008, when a jury found him guilty on all counts, including first-degree murder in Michael Stewart’s death.