Court upholds murder conviction

Federal appeals panel concludes Blake's confession not coerced

By EARL KELLY, Staff Writer

Published 07/04/09

A federal appeals court this week upheld the 2007 conviction and prison sentence of Leeander Jerome Blake in the 2002 murder of Annapolis businessman Straughan Lee Griffin.

Courtesy photo
A federal appeals court this week upheld the 2007 conviction and prison sentence of Leeander Jerome Blake in the 2002 murder of Annapolis businessman Straughan Lee Griffin.

The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., on Thursday rejected claims by Blake's attorneys that their client's confession was obtained by illegal interrogation, and that his sentence was excessive.

"We are pleased, no question about it," Linda Griffin, the victim's oldest sister, said yesterday in a phone interview from her home in Norfolk, Va.

"I wish my father had lived to see this," Griffin...

This story has expired!
You can purchase the full text in our news archives.

YOUR COMMENTS

RULES OF PARTICIPATION

If you encounter other problems, please email ewiffin@capitalgazette.com and include your name, username, and any errors or messages that are displayed. The more information you can provide, the better able we will be to assist you.

In order to post or vote on a comment, you must be signed in with a hometownannapolis account.

Take a look at a summary of Commenting Guidelines.

Report Abuse or Vote In order to allow the user community the ability to collectively rank the value of comments posted on the Capital Gazette websites we have implemented a thumbs-up/down system. All logged-in users may participate by voting up/down each comment. If others vote on your comment, your individual score will go up/down depending on the votes. Initially, everyone starts with a score of zero, and must earn credits to have significant voting weight. Individuals with higher scores will have more voting weight. -21

your equation - 2009-07-04 22:40:06

"In theory this is a good thing; but, in practice it does leave a trail of anguish for the victim's family and friends and also pretty much removes the victim from the picture and the deliberations."

You comment is ambiguous at best. If the victim's family suffers intolerable emotional distress because of appeals that is a problem for which a remedy ( mental health services) is readily available. The families suffering, though unfortunate, can never obstruct the defendants right to exhaust his legal remedies.

unhide Comment hidden due to low ranking. Why is this comment hidden?

Corporal Reinhart - , - Karma: Terrible

Sarah B - 2009-07-04 16:53:12

You see now why I was making the post regarding "Corporal Reinhart"

unhide Comment hidden due to low ranking. Why is this comment hidden?

M. Donnell - Annapolis, MD - Karma: Good

Right To Appeal Is Good, But - - 2009-07-04 15:15:11

A defendant's right to appeals is a critical part of our judicial system providing the defendant with several avenues of pursuit in their quest to overturn what they/their attorneys view as a wrongful conviction/sentence. In theory this is a good thing; but, in practice it does leave a trail of anguish for the victim's family and friends and also pretty much removes the victim from the picture and the deliberations. I whole heartily support the right to appeal; but, as the sister of the murder victim, Lee Griffin, I wish that there was some way to keep Lee's life in the equation and wish there was a way to shield the family and friends from the pain resulting from reopening the wounds each and every time. It is impossible to move ahead when you are thrust back into the nightmare so many times. You never, ever forget and you still have bad dreams and you still cry. What we, Lee's family and friends, fervently want is for the end of the process to finally arrive and not to have to keep reading over and over about Lee's final minutes of life and knowing in our minds the horror and fear that Lee must have experienced when the trigger was pulled once but didn't fire and then pulled again. No one should have to live with these memories.

unhide Comment hidden due to low ranking. Why is this comment hidden?

Linda G. - , - Karma: Neutral

stay the course ? - 2009-07-04 13:34:29

"Stay the Course"-- ahhhh the Bush administration. Right or Wrong, just stay the course.

Being inflexible and stubborn is seen as a strength when it fact is a weakness. The alternative , adjusting to new information and correcting mistakes, is called "flip-flopping". This is the law, and if mistakes were made Judges have a right to affirm or overturn or remand.

This has nothing to do with 'satying the course"

unhide Comment hidden due to low ranking. Why is this comment hidden?

Corporal Reinhart - , - Karma: Terrible

The Judge Is Right - 2009-07-04 08:26:33

I wish more courts stay the course of the convictions that are handed out like this one did. Yes there are some that are wrong, but they are not all "wrong". Kids need to know that when you hang out with people who kill, rob or Rape you are an accomplice plain and simple. Those kids who were laughing when that little girl was shot just goes to show how these young kids are growing up without a concise. They are laughing and talking about how do you miss your target, I mean come on. It starts young, kids need to have more discipline instilled in them now starting from birth. Too many times parents think the threat of CPS or that their kids won't like them anymore because for some reason now parents are trying to be their kids friends instead of parenting, why? Whose bright idea was this?....As long as parents do not discipline their kids we will continue to have kids like the one above who feel that since he did not pull the trigger he is not responsible. Responsibility also comes in who you choose as your friends as well....

unhide Comment hidden due to low ranking. Why is this comment hidden?

Sarah B. - Elkton, MD - Karma: Neutral