By David Hanners
dhanners@pioneerpress.com
Updated: 05/16/2011 06:38:24 PM CDT
A Minneapolis associate minister was charged with murder Monday, and prosecutors described an alleged motive that could've come from the Bible's book of Proverbs:
"For jealousy arouses a husband's fury, and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge."
Police claim Derrick Trevor Griffin, 40, had stalked his estranged wife and then killed Kristopher Miller, the man who had escorted her to her car after a night of conviviality at an Elks Club last week.
The criminal complaint, which alleges second-degree murder, says Griffin sat in his Cadillac quietly watching as Miller escorted the woman to her car, gave her a hug and bid her goodbye, then followed Miller home and shot him twice as the man stepped onto his porch.
Miller, 27, father of two young girls, died at the scene. He was an associate educator at Minneapolis' North High School, where the principal labeled him "the quasi-dean of students."
In announcing the charge, Hennepin County Attorney Michael Freeman said his office would present the case to a grand jury to see if a charge of first-degree murder is warranted; he said he believes it is.
"What's critical is the criminal action he took," Freeman said of Griffin. "He killed somebody. It clearly was premeditated."
Second-degree murder carries a sentence of three to 40 years in prison; a person convicted of first-degree murder faces life in prison.
Griffin has been jailed since his arrest May 11, about 12 hours after the shooting. He is being
held on $1 million bail and his initial court appearance is scheduled for Tuesday.
He is one of four associate ministers of True Vine Missionary Baptist Church, an evangelical church on North Thomas Avenue in Minneapolis. His father, the Rev. Jessie Griffin, is the senior pastor.
Derrick Griffin has denied involvement in the crime and there are no known witnesses. Freeman acknowledged the case is heavily circumstantial, but said the pieces of the puzzle - ballistics tests, surveillance cameras, cell phone records and data from the city's "ShotSpotter" Gunshot Location System - added up to what he called a convincing case.
"We've got a lot better technology than the time of Dick Tracy," he said.
The criminal complaint by Assistant County Attorney Darren Borg says that on the evening of the shooting, Miller, his sister, her boyfriend and a woman identified only as "K.G." had been at the Elk's Club on Plymouth Avenue. The complaint says "K.G." is Griffin's estranged wife.
State records show that in March 2002, Griffin and Kim Rochelle Dozier obtained a marriage license in Hennepin County. Griffin filed for divorce from Kim Rochelle Griffin in Hennepin County in May 2010, but the case was dismissed six weeks later.
Kim Griffin told police that she and Griffin were still married, the complaint says. She "reported that she and the defendant have had marital problems as of late and that they are currently separated, with the defendant often staying at a separate residence."
The two had recently argued over text messages Griffin had found on his estranged wife's phone; the messages were sexually suggestive and Griffin "interpreted these messages as proof that K.G. was having an affair with an employee of the Elk's Club," the complaint said.
Freeman said Miller and Griffin's estranged wife had a "relationship;" he declined to elaborate.
As Miller and the three others left the club just before 11:30 p.m., Kim Griffin "pointed to a white Cadillac across the street from the club and stated, 'There is my ex-husband stalking me again,' " Borg wrote.
Kim Griffin told police that Miller "walked her to her vehicle, gave her a hug and then parted ways," according to the complaint. "She observed the victim enter his vehicle and leave."
Police were dispatched to Miller's home on Irving Avenue North about 12:36 a.m., minutes after emergency medical personnel had been called to the home. They found Miller dead. He'd been shot twice.
Neighbors heard the shots, but didn't see the shooting. The reports prompted some to look out their windows; one neighbor reported seeing a white Cadillac back the wrong way down one-way Irving Avenue and then turn towards Plymouth Avenue North.
After piecing together Miller's whereabouts and whom he'd been with, investigators were soon looking for Griffin. Freeman said the arrest was an example of an "extensive use of technology and good and effective police work."
The complaint says Griffin initially told police that he wasn't in the area that evening, but he later said he went to the area to buy alcohol before going to his girlfriend's home in Columbia Heights.
Detectives got Griffin's cell phone records, though, and they tracked his locations through cell towers that handled his calls, the complaint said. "Officers confirmed the defendant's cell phone was active in the area of the shooting with times that coincided," Borg wrote.
Griffin allegedly admitted owning a white Cadillac and two guns, including a .38-caliber handgun. While booking him into jail, police recovered a .38-caliber Winchester Silver Tip live round from his clothing.
The round matched the bullet removed from Miller's body, the complaint said.
Police also got video from several surveillance cameras in the area. They show Griffin's Cadillac "driving from the area of the shooting within minutes after the shots fired calls are received," the complaint alleges.
The criminal complaint also says that the day after he was jailed, Griffin told his estranged wife not to talk to police and to tell them that she'd already told them all she knew. "The defendant also instructs K.G. to do like the attorney told you," Borg wrote.
Freeman said the alleged conversation was recorded, noting that there's a sign near the telephone inmates use that warns them the calls may be recorded.
"Guess what? We record them," Freeman said. "People say really, really dumb things. We're glad they do."
David Hanners can be reached at 612-338-6516.
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