chilling 2002 carjacking-killing in Annapolis’ Historic District has refocused
attention on the fate of his alleged accomplice.
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While Tolbert, 21, faces the possibility of being sentenced to life in
prison without parole, Leeander Jerome Blake, 19, is free and cannot be tried
unless the U.S. Supreme Court revives his case.
An Anne Arundel County jury convicted Tolbert late Wednesday of
first-degree murder, armed carjacking and related counts in the Sept. 19,
2002, killing of Straughan Lee Griffin as the 51-year-old businessman was
unloading his Jeep.
Griffin was shot in the face, his keys were taken, and he was run over by
his Jeep as the carjackers fled and left him to die in front of his home near
the State House.
Tolbert, then 19, and Blake, then 17, neighbors in the Robinwood public
housing complex, were arrested about five weeks later. In statements to
police, they blamed each other. Police said Tolbert called the shooting “a
robbery gone bad.”
As for the different legal outcomes for Tolbert and Blake, experts say that
is the way the law works.
Charged in the same crime, the men raised different pretrial issues as they
challenged the admissibility of their statements to police. Tolbert lost in
the Maryland courts, and Blake won. Tolbert might never be free; Blake may
never be tried.
“It’s an anomaly. The guy who may have been the heavy in this thing may
escape,” said longtime lawyer T. Joseph Touhey, noting that such outcomes are
hardly unheard of. “But it is the system of justice.”
“Is it fair, or is it the right result in this case? I don’t know. What I
tell my students is that the American criminal justice system is terrible –
it’s just that it is better than any other one,” said Byron L. Warnken, who
teaches criminal law at the University of Baltimore School of Law.
State law questioned
The case has raised questions about a Maryland law that, barring action by
the U.S. Supreme Court, has ended the state’s case against Blake.
Under Maryland state law, if prosecutors lose a pretrial appeal, they
forfeit the entire case.
Contending that police wrongly elicited his statement after he had asked
for a lawyer, Blake won his fight to have his remarks thrown out. Prosecutors
appealed, and the Maryland Court of Appeals upheld the ruling barring the
alleged confession.
Tolbert challenged his incriminating statements, and some of them were also
thrown out. Prosecutors appealed. But he lost in Maryland’s highest court, and
the U.S. Supreme Court last year refused to hear his case.
On the witness stand Wednesday, Tolbert denied having anything to do with
the crime, giving jurors an account that some later said was unbelievable.
Tolbert said he did not know Blake was carrying the revolver he had given
him, planned to steal a car or fatally shoot Griffin. He said he fled with
Blake, later wiping down the Jeep in Glen Burnie, “because I didn’t want to
have nothing to do with nothing.”
The explanation contradicted much of what police testified that he’d told
them, and prosecutors detailed a series of discrepancies for jurors.
Mark A. Van Bavel, Tolbert’s lawyer, said the fact that Blake may not be
prosecuted is “not an issue” for Tolbert. “He just doesn’t hold any grudges
for it,” Van Bavel said.
Both Tolbert and Griffin were known in Annapolis – in different circles,
for different reasons.
Tolbert lost his right arm in a transformer accident when he was 8 years
old and was the object of an outpouring of community support.
Griffin, a partner in a Columbia business that provides the huge projection
screens for rock concerts and other events, was known for generosity to a
program for disadvantaged children as well as for his thoughtful, neighborly
ways. He was returning home from work to meet his fiancee for a long weekend
getaway when he was slain.
His mother, Virginia Griffin, said the Tolbert verdict offered more
heartache because “another mother has lost her son.”
Linda Griffin, the victim’s sister, said the verdict gave the family its
first sigh of relief in the two-year legal rollercoaster, and said they were
awaiting word from the Supreme Court in Blake’s case.
Prosecutors hold a glimmer of hope that Blake’s will be among the rare
cases the Supreme Court chooses to review.
Kenneth W. Ravenell, Blake’s lawyer, said that he looks forward to the
Supreme Court rejecting the state’s request. He would not comment on Tolbert’s
case.
The Supreme Court requested the Maryland court records for Blake’s case
when it met on the case last Friday.
“We’re happy that the Supreme Court did not reject it,” said Frank R.
Weathersbee, Anne Arundel County state’s attorney.
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Weathersbee, who unsuccessfully asked federal officials last year to
prosecute Blake on federal charges, said that if the Supreme Court does turn
down the Blake case, “I suspect I will call the new U.S. Attorney and ask if
they will revisit their decision.”
A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office said that office would review
the case and make a decision on whether to seek an indictment.
On the legislative front, a push to change the law is about to gear up
again.
Pursuing changes
Lawmakers last year changed a part of the law that required Tolbert and
Blake to be freed pending the outcome of the prosecutors’ appeals, even though
they were to be held without bond.
But Weathersbee and others want to change a second part of the law that
automatically ends a case if prosecutors lose their appeal, as they did with
Blake.
Weathersbee said the result is bizarre: “I can stand up and say, I have
killed someone and I have gotten away with murder. There’s nothing you can do
about it,” he said.
Efforts to change that part of the law fizzled last year.
“We’re not giving up,” said Del. Theodore J. Sophocleus, an Anne Arundel
County Democrat who works as an administrator for Weathersbee and will sponsor
the bill.
Linda Griffin said she will testify again in favor of change if asked.
Opponents say the law is meant to discourage prosecutors from making
frivolous appeals.
Meanwhile, prosecutors are preparing for a Feb. 24 sentencing for Tolbert.
“He should get life without parole. The fact that Mr. Blake should be there
also doesn’t make it unfair to Mr. Tolbert,” Weathersbee said.