On Feb. 16, the state’s attorney’s office for Charles County announced that Anthony Edward Small, 24, was sentenced to life in prison with all but 50 years suspended for the 2020 murder of 17-year-old Daniel McClellan-Givens.
Small pleaded guilty to the crime on Dec. 11, 2023.
Before sentencing Small, Judge James West stated that the victim “was just a child. He never really had a chance to better himself for the long run. We’ll never get to see the victim mature.”
The judge said the incident was “the most loss that you could inflict upon [the teenager’s mother] for really no reason at all,” and that it was a “tremendous amount of harm to bring to someone’s family for no real reason.”
According to McClellan-Given’s obituary, he attended Thomas Stone High, the Robert D. Stethem Educational Center and St. Charles High. He had aspirations in studio recording and production, and he sought to be a business entrepreneur.
Small is the first to be sentenced in the Nov. 3, 2020, killing. Charles sheriff’s officers responded to an apartment building located in the 2000 block of Amberleaf Place in Waldorf for the report of a person being shot.
Upon their arrival, officers located McClellan-Givens suffering from several gunshot wounds to his lower body. He was transported by helicopter to Washington Hospital Center and died due to his injuries.
Witnesses at the scene of the incident reported seeing an altercation between McClellan-Givens and another person in a blue 2014 Hyundai Sonata passenger car, ultimately resulting in gunshots. Small, who shot the victim, was observed entering the front passenger seat of the car before fleeing the area.
After the incident, Tyliek Anthony Spence, Small’s accomplice, spoke to investigators and reported that he was the driver of the fleeing car. Spence told investigators that he had arranged to purchase marijuana from McClellan-Givens before the shooting, according to court documents.
Soon after Spence and Small arrived, there was an attempted robbery of the teenager, followed by the McClellan-Givens getting shot.
During the investigation, police were able to recover a fingerprint on the passenger side of Spence’s car, which was found to be left by Small. Small’s cellphone records placed him in the area during the time of the incident. He was also seen in photographs wearing clothing that matched a description of the shooting suspect.
An examination of Small’s cellphone was conducted and photographs were observed of Small and the victim’s handgun covered with blood, according to a release from the state’s attorney’s office. In a text exchange, Small confessed to his girlfriend about the murder.
On Sept. 15, 2022, Spence entered a guilty plea to first-degree felony murder. His sentencing date has been set for March 7, 2024.
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