Man Indicted on Federal Charges in 2002 Annapolis Slaying

Federal authorities announced an indictment yesterday in a widely publicized 2002 slaying in the historic district of Annapolis, charging a suspect who had avoided trial in state court despite allegedly admitting involvement in the crime.

The indictment of defendant Leeander J. Blake was returned by a grand jury in Baltimore. In the failed state prosecution of the case, courts ruled that Blake was improperly interrogated and that the statements he made to police were inadmissible.

He was released from jail in 2004, 20 months after he and an associate were accused in a carjacking and killing that stunned the city. "He can say, 'I got away with murder,' " Anne Arundel County State's Attorney Frank R. Weathersbee said at the time.

Yesterday, flanked by representatives of the FBI and other agencies, Weathersbee praised U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein for pursuing the case federally after the Supreme Court effectively ended the state's efforts to prosecute Blake last year by declining to intervene. "This is a day that I've been waiting for almost a year, a day in which the wheels of justice will again begin turning for Leeander J. Blake," Weathersbee said.

Blake, now 21, surrendered to authorities Wednesday to face charges in the slaying of Straughan Lee Griffin, a businessman and sailing enthusiast. Blake appeared in court briefly yesterday and was ordered held until a detention hearing Wednesday.

Regardless of whether Blake's statements are admitted in court, a law enforcement source said the government has additional evidence that was not available at the time of the state prosecution. The source, speaking on condition of anonymity because the evidence has not been publicly disclosed, declined to describe it.

Blake's attorney, Michael E. Kaminkow, said that the indictment is "re-traumatizing Mr. Blake" and that the case should not have been revived once it had been concluded in state court.

"He's devastated and terribly frustrated," said Kaminkow, who added that Blake had been working a construction job in Annapolis. "He was trying to get on with his life."

The victim's sister, Linda Griffin, who has said it would be "horrific" if Blake is not tried in her brother's death, declined to comment yesterday. But she and the family were pleased that Blake was back in custody, said Meg Hayward, a victim-witness advocate with the county state's attorney's office, who spoke with Griffin yesterday afternoon.

"They'd been hoping that something would happen that would lead to some kind of justice," Hayward said. "They've been waiting for a long time."

Griffin, 51, was killed Sept. 19, 2002, outside his home on a quiet cul-de-sac, a block from the governor's mansion and not far from the U.S. Naval Academy. He was unloading groceries when two men approached and shot him in the head. The assailants fled in Griffin's Jeep Cherokee, driving over his body.

More than a month later, police arrested Blake, then 17, and Terrence Tolbert, then 19, who were neighbors in an Annapolis public housing complex. Tolbert was convicted in Circuit Court last year and sentenced to life in prison.