Judge gives Sahiou Kargbo, 19, maximum sentence in killing of Baltimore father of three James Blue
BALTIMORE -- Lekeshia Blue, a Baltimore Police captain, wept as she read letters from her children about the impact of their father's death.
"Lonely, empty," her young daughter wrote in one of the letters. "My dad always played with me. I'm scared I will forget what that was like."
The son who was on the phone with his father at the time of his murder addressed the killer directly.
"You took so much from us, and every day you take more," he wrote.
Blue's husband, James Blue III, 43, was waiting inside a vehicle for a refrigerator to be delivered at his rental property on Walker Avenue on January 25, 2022, when Sahiou Kargbo shot at him 14 times.
The judge even noted the brutality, saying Kargbo continued shooting as he stood over Blue on the pavement.
"I pray that you have no mercy on the defendant like he had no mercy on my husband," Lekeshia Blue told the judge.
Kargbo was sentenced to 65 years in prison, the maximum amount allowed under the law.
One of Kargbo's relatives fainted and collapsed on the courthouse floor after hearing the six-decade sentence, which the defendant's lawyer vowed to appeal.
Kargbo was 18 at the time of the killing and a student at Mervo High School. The judge said she took his age into account but also noted a pattern of "escalating violence," including an armed robbery at a Baltimore County Wendy's, opening fire on a man at a hotel, and Blue's killing all within the span of 19 days.
Kargbo claimed self-defense. His lawyer Todd Oppenheim argued his client was part of a cycle of violence—with a friend killed when he was 10 and witnessing a murder when he was 15.
WJZ Investigator Mike Hellgren asked Oppenheim whether he believed the sentence was fair.
"No," Oppenheim told Hellgren. "We argued for a guideline sentence [25 to 40 years]. We'll be filing an appeal based on many of the issues that were raised in the motion for a new trial."
He also told Hellgren he believed his client did show remorse.
Kargbo apologized to Blue's family.
"I ask for forgiveness. Please forgive me.… While I committed a terrible act, I am not a terrible person," he said.
Oppenheim noted his client had finished his high school equivalency while behind bars.
"It feels better that he was remorseful than to come into the courtroom and say something that was hurtful," Blue's sister Shelonda Stokes told Hellgren. "We understand the impact of his age. We understand the impact of the other crimes he committed, so we hear it in the same way the judge heard it and we felt that in there. It was better than it being negative."
Kargbo should have been in jail in a prior case at the time Blue was killed, but authorities failed to serve a warrant—leaving him on the streets—a problem his grieving sister wants to fix as part of his legacy.
"The reality was the person who murdered my brother had an open warrant," Stokes said. "That system is broken so part of it is really looking at how we leverage this and we're able to really help the system get better," Stokes said.
Outside court, Blue's mother pulled out a picture of her son and talked about all she has left—memories of her time with him.
"James was an amazing son. He was an amazing man in every way. The kind of son that everyone would love to have. Compassionate. Kind. He was good-looking. He had a sense of humor. He loved us and we loved him," Shelley Forbes-Eford said. "I just happen to have his picture here. Handsome. We love him and we miss him so much so much so much."
