A convicted killer and home invasion crew leader was sentenced Thursday to spend the rest of his life in prison as he continued to proclaim his innocence.
A DeKalb County Superior Court judge sentenced Michael Blaine to eight consecutive life terms, with no possibility of parole.
A DeKalb jury convicted Blaine on Wednesday for the November 2005 murder of Eric Banks during a botched robbery, and for racketeering charges stemming from his efforts to organize a scheme for robbing drug dealers and wealthy homeowners in south DeKalb in 2005 and 2006.
Blaine's attorney, Herbert Adams Jr., said he filed documents to appeal the verdicts immediately after Thursday's sentencing hearing.
"We believe there was reasonable doubt," Adams told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "and the verdict went against the weight of the evidence."
From the stand Thursday, Blaine continued to proclaim he was not guilty, Adams said.
"He insisted on his innocence, and he apologized in court to the Johnson family," Adams said, referring to the family of Timothy and LaMonica Johnson, whose home Blaine and his crew were convicted of invading in 2006.
Prosecutors say that November 2006 armed robbery set off events that eventually led to the death a year later of the Johnsons' 7-year-old son, Timothy Johnson Jr.
Police say Willie Kelsie, an alleged member of Blaine's robbery crew, broke into the Johnsons' home seeking to eliminate witnesses to the 2006 home invasion a day before Blaine was to go to court. Kelsie is in DeKalb County Jail awaiting trial for the child's death.
The jury found Blaine guilty on 31 of the 38 charges against him, including for murder and racketeering, as well as several counts of kidnapping, aggravated assault and armed robbery, among others.
Prosecutors requested life without parole for Blaine because he had several prior felony convictions.
But Blaine complained that members of the robbing crew he assembled, all witnesses in the trial, co-operated with prosecutors to orchestrate his downfall.
""He said his co-defendants had six years to corroborate with the prosecution," Adams said Blaine told the court.
Blaine's mother, Evelyn Blaine asked the court for mercy -- a plea Adams echoed when he spoke to the judge.
"Consecutive sentences weren't necessary to get a point across," Adams said. "The court should want justice, not vengeance."
Eric Banks’ father and LaMonica Johnson told the judge Blaine shouldn’t be shown leniency.
“I’m relieved,” she had said Wednesday as the guilty verdicts were read, drying her eyes. “What my family went through on that night was horrible. It’s wonderful knowing he’ll be off the streets.”
Blaine has remained in the DeKalb County jail while awaiting trial, and soon will be transferred to a state prison.
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