Leader of California Bloods Gang Gets Life

Shaidon "Don Papa" Blake, a leader of the infamous California Bloods gang, was sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison Thursday after a jury found him guilty in the April 2006 murder of 19-year-old Terrance Randolph.

Randolph was found tied, beaten, and stabbed in the neck with a sword in the basement of a West Baltimore house. After his murder, he was then burned, as reported by the Baltimore Sun.

Two other defendants, Jimile "Smiley" Harvey, 23, and Janet "Lock and Load" Johnson were also found guilty. Harvey was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentence to life in prison. Johnson was convicted of first-degree murder; her sentencing is tomorrow, as reported by the Sun.

Judge John N. Prevas, who sentenced Blake, said, according to the Sun: "The murder was so brutal that it probably tops the chart for a generation."

Blake, who denied having anything to do with the death of Randolph, addressed the court and said he was being made a scapegoat for California's rise in gang violence, according to the Sun.

Police believe that Randolph had mishandled some money in a big drug deal and gotten in a fight, which is a direct violation of orders from gang members. Blake initially told the police that he was a member of a gang called the Bounty Hunter Bloods, and that he and other members were sent to Baltimore to impose disciplinary action upon Terrance Randolph and to sell heroin as stated on the court testimony, according the the Sun.

Blake also accused city leaders of using him and his story to justify way of getting bigger budgets to go after such high profile gangs. Blake's fiancee, Lisa Smith, stood behind everything Blake had to say and the reasons behind it. She told the Sun: "He already knew what was going to happen, so he told me in advance. That's why he was calm and cool and I was calm and cool too." She added, according to the Sun: "We know he's the fall guy. He's not the leader. It's somebody up there bigger than him. He's a little fish, and they're trying to get the bigger fish."