Linda Griffin choked back tears as she spoke to the Annapolis man convicted of carjacking and killing her brother five years ago.
“Mr. Blake, I don?t hate you, and I never have. I just feel such intense sorrow for what this has done to our family, and your family has to be hurting as well,” Griffin said Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Baltimore.
Leeander Jerome Blake, 22, was sentenced Wednesday to life plus 10 years in prison for the September 2002 murder of Staughan Lee Griffin.
Judge William Nickerson?s sentence marked the end of nearly five years of legal proceedings.
Staughan Lee Griffin, 51, was shot in the head as he unloaded groceries from his Jeep Grand Cherokee in front of his Annapolis home. He was then run over by his car as his assailants fled.
Blake?s attorney, Kenneth Ravenell,vowed to appeal, arguing “errors occurred during the trial,” particularly that Blake?s confession to police, once found inadmissible, was allowed in court.
Ravenell had sought a 20-year sentence, telling the court that Terrance Tolbert, 24, who is serving a life sentence inconnection with the murder, was “more culpable” than his client in the crime.
Blake?s mother, LaWanda Pierce, pleaded for mercy.
“I didn?t raise my child to be a bad child,” Pierce said, adding she raised four children by herself.
