Jury convicts Providence man in 2021 fatal drive-by shooting
PROVIDENCE – A 26-year-old Providence man has been convicted of murder and multiple other felonies in the drive-by shooting of a 24-year-old Warwick woman killed while talking to a friend on a city street.
The conviction of Isaiah Pinkerton came nearly two years after Miya Brophy-Baermann was shot on Aug. 1, 2021, while standing along Olney Street at about 3:30 on a Sunday morning. She had earlier attended a party nearby.
Brophy-Baermann, a University of Rhode Island graduate, had recently received a master's degree from Northeastern University and started working as a speech-language pathologist. Investigators at the time said they didn't believe she was the shooter's intended target.
For more than a year, no one was arrested in the murder, but on Aug. 24, 2022, Pinkerton and another Providence man, Shawn Mann, were charged by secret indictment. Mann, 32, still faces trial.
Pinkerton found guilty of murder, possession of a ghost gun
On Thursday, a jury convicted Pinkerton of 10 felonies. In addition to murder, he was convicted of drive-by shooting, conspiracy, possessing a ghost gun (untraceable because it didn't have a serial number) and discharging a firearm while committing a crime of violence, among other charges.
Judge Robert D. Krause also found Pinkerton guilty of two counts of possession of a firearm by a person previously convicted of a violent crime. Pinkerton will be sentenced at a later date.
The trial started Wednesday, June 21, with a friend of Brophy-Baermann among the first to testify. Sheron Robinson said that while he was with Brophy-Baermann, a car approached and he heard gunshots and saw the flash of a muzzle, but could not see the person holding the gun.
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On the guilty verdict, Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said, "It has been nearly two years since Miya lost her life, and while we are painfully aware that nothing can return her to her family and friends, I hope this verdict brings some semblance of peace to everyone impacted by this unnecessary and tragic loss. The state proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was responsible for this senseless murder, and the jury decided swiftly and decisively to return a guilty verdict on all counts."
"I am grateful to the Providence Police Department for their outstanding work and partnership during the investigation and prosecution of this complex case," Neronha said.
Providence Journal Reporter Mark Reynolds contributed to this story
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Isaiah Pinkerton convicted in murder of Miya Brophy-Baermann
