Terrence Tolbert yesterday to life in prison without parole for the
carjacking-slaying of an Annapolis businessman outside his Historic District
home.
Tolbert, 22, appeared expressionless as Circuit Judge Ronald A. Silkworth
told a packed courtroom that just as the victim, Straughan Lee Griffin,
epitomized what is right in society, Tolbert embodied what’s wrong.
“Mr. Tolbert, one solace to you is that you still will have a life. Mr.
Griffin will not,” Silkworth said.
Silkworth told Tolbert that he victimized not only Griffin’s family and
friends, but also the community and his own family.
As the judge meted out life without parole for first-degree murder plus 30
years for conspiracy to commit carjacking, members of Griffin’s family sighed
and then wept. Later, they said they were pleased that Silkworth held Tolbert
responsible but felt sadness for his family.
“There is no closure. The pain will always be there,” said Virginia
Griffin, mother of the 51- year-old victim.
“He still took the life of someone I love. I can’t forgive that action,”
said Ginny Rawls, Griffin’s fiancee.
Mark A. Van Bavel, Tolbert’s lawyer, said he was disappointed with the
sentence. “But I understand why he did it,” added Van Bavel, who sought a term
of life with the possibility of parole.
The fate of the second suspect, Tolbert’s neighbor, remains uncertain.
Leeander Jerome Blake, 19, was also charged in Griffin’s killing, but he
successfully challenged the admissibility of his statement to police. This
effectively ended the case barring action by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Griffin, a partner in a business that handled large-screen projections for
rock concerts and other events, had just taken dry-cleaning out of his Jeep
shortly before dusk Sept. 19, 2002, when two youths approached him. He was
shot in the head from inches away. His keys were taken.
As the carjackers fled in his Jeep, they ran over him. His vehicle was
found near Tolbert’s girlfriend’s home in Glen Burnie. It was the first
slaying in the state capital’s Historic District in more than two decades.
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Assistant State’s Attorney Frederick M. Paone, who sought life without
parole and the maximum sentence for related convictions, called Griffin’s
slaying “a crime of absolutely unspeakable violence” that rocked the
neighborhood.
He said he was gratified by the long prison term. He said that had the case
been a bit different, he could have sought a death sentence.
Whether Tolbert fired the fatal shots is uncertain, and, according to
police, Tolbert and Blake blamed each other. Only the triggerman is eligible
for the death penalty.
Silkworth also sentenced Tolbert to 20 years each for conspiracy to commit
armed robbery with a deadly weapon and handgun violations, which will be
served at the same time as the 30-year term.
The case has been a rollercoaster, legally and emotionally. Part of
Tolbert’s statement to police initially was thrown out by Silkworth.
Prosecutors appealed – which was risky, because if they lost the appeal,
they’d have to drop the charges – and Tolbert was released from jail.
During that time, police said they videotaped him in a drug deal, and he
was returned to jail. He has yet to be tried on that drug charge, as well as
one for which he was awaiting trial when he was charged with Griffin’s murder.
In 2003, Maryland’s top court ruled that his statements were usable at
trial.
Police said Tolbert called the killing a “robbery gone bad.” Attorneys for
Blake, however, successfully argued that police took his statement illegally.
The state’s highest court agreed. Under a quirk in state law, when prosecutors
lose a pre-trial appeal, they forfeit the case.
Before sentencing, Rawls told the judge she replays in her head a scene
that goes from elation to horror.
She recalled coming to Griffin’s home for a long weekend at the beach to
discuss wedding plans, only to learn that he’d been slain. Now, she said, her
loneliness is indescribable, and she mourns for a stolen future.
“I thought we’d grow old together, and that’s what we should have been
allowed to do,” she said.
Linda Griffin spoke directly to Tolbert, telling him that he took her
brother away less than a year after her husband died, plunging her into
profound depression.
Her words prompted Tolbert’s mother to cry. Juanita Johns’ tears became
uncontrollable when she reached the podium to address the judge.
Between deep sobs, Johns begged Silkworth to give her son some hope of
leaving prison. “Don’t take him away forever,” she cried.
The case “is just killing me slowly,” she said.
Seeking leniency in his rambling remarks, Tolbert apologized, said he got
in with the wrong crowd, wanted to get out of his troubled neighborhood and
worries that his 1-year-old daughter will grow up without a father, like he
did.
In jail, he has dwelled on what might have happened, not only that day but
had he gone to college, he said.
“For, like, the last 2 1/2 years, it’s just been a lot of whys and should
haves,” he said.
At age 8, Tolbert lost his right arm to an accidental electrocution.
Community support flowed to him. Since the accident, he has been withdrawn,
his lawyer said. His criminal record dates to when he was 14.