A jury found him guilty of raping at gunpoint a stranger he met on the street, but Larry Griffin maintained his innocence Thursday as he awaited a judge’s sentence for a crime he said he couldn’t fathom committing.
With his hands clasped behind his back and his head down, the 39-year-old accused serial rapist was sentenced to nearly 18 years in prison on one count of first-degree criminal sexual conduct by Ramsey County District Judge Richard Kyle Jr.
Griffin now awaits trials in three other cases involving sexual assault of different women.
“(This) victim was chosen at random; the acts were brazen,” Kyle said before delivering Griffin’s sentence.
A jury found him guilty in May of raping a woman he met last August as she walked along Payne Avenue in St. Paul.
He took the 31-year-old Lino Lakes woman to the apartment of a nearby friend but came back hours later after she called him for a ride. It was then that Griffin pulled his van into an alley, took out a gun and raped her, the jury found.
He maintained at trial that they engaged in consensual sex.
The woman is one of four Griffin is accused of raping. He allegedly approached two of the others while they were also walking on Payne Avenue late in the evening; the fourth involved a woman walking on nearby Maryland Avenue.
After being found guilty by a jury in the first case, Griffin entered guilty pleas to the charges facing him in the others.
His public defender, John Riemer, indicated at Thursday’s sentencing hearing that Griffin now intends to withdraw those pleas and fight the allegations.
Griffin has admitted to daily use of methamphetamine in the past and says he has no memory of sexually assaulting anyone, Riemer said.
“He can’t envision himself having done what the jury has found him guilty of doing,” Riemer said.
Griffin said the same before accepting his sentence.
“I know the way things look and sound. … (But) I would never do anything like that,” Griffin said. “I just can’t go on with something that I didn’t do.”
Assistant Ramsey County Attorney Sarah Cory said Thursday that Griffin’s denial doesn’t change the facts.
“The defendant took complete advantage of a woman who was walking alone. … Who was naive enough to accept a ride. … She will never get over that,” Cory said.
While the woman testified about what had happened during Griffin’s trial, she did not appear to be in court Thursday.
Cory spoke on her behalf, saying the assault had left her ashamed and traumatized.
Evidence collected from her sexual assault examination, as well as examinations of Griffin’s other three alleged victims, all match Griffin’s DNA profile, criminal complaints say.
It was not immediately clear when trials will take place in the remaining cases.