A 19-year-old Lusby man identified as the getaway driver of a vehicle involved in a botched drug deal that led to the shooting of a woman last June was found guilty Jan. 23 by a Calvert Circuit Court jury of attempted first-degree murder by a Calvert County Circuit Court jury.
Defendant Steven Anthony Gilner, along with his two juvenile co-defendants, had driven to the White Sands subdivision of Lusby on June 5, 2025, to purchase marijuana from a 24-year-old Prince Frederick woman, identified by the courts as Alexis Renee Commodore.
Prosecuting attorney Christopher Monte said in his closing statement that the three teenagers went to the location with the intention of robbing Commodore, who was selling the youths cannabis cartridges and joints. After a struggle with one of the youths inside her Ford Mustang, Commodore was shot in the lower back by another teen who fired twice into the back of the vehicle.
Although Gilner remained in the Ford Escape the three rode to White Sands, Monte said, “he’s on the hook” for the actions of the others because he “knowingly aided. They went to rob Alexis Commodore. The defendant absolutely knew what was going to happen.”
During her closing statements, Gilner’s attorney, Andrea Danielle Smith, said the incident “was not a robbery,” adding that none of the perpetrators was wearing a face covering and the teen that got into the the woman’s car to get the marijuana was not armed.
Noting the ages of the four people involved, Smith said, “All made disastrous decisions that snowballed into a poop show.”
Smith called the bullet that hit Commodore, who was in her vehicle’s driver seat, “a fluke accident. There was no conspiracy. It may be a theft but it was not a robbery.”
All three defendants were identified and apprehended within 48 hours after the incident, as detectives from the Calvert County Sheriff’s Office used witness interviews, surveillance camera footage plus cellphone and social media missives to build their case, which was further supported by search warrants and the collection of forensic evidence.
Other indictment counts filed against Gilner included assault, armed robbery, handgun violations and conspiracy charges.
Presiding Judge Mark S. Chandlee scheduled Gilner’s sentencing for March 23.
The defendant is facing a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. The two other defendants, both juveniles who were charged as adults, had previously pleaded guilty to attempted murder. State law prohibits their names from being divulged.
