Erie police corporal convicted of assaulting wife, faces loss of job; wife at odds with DA

An Erie police corporal has been convicted of physically assaulting his wife even after she turned out to be his biggest defender at his trial in Erie County Common Pleas Court.

The officer, Justin W. Griffith, 40, on the police force since 2008 and suspended since his arrest, now faces the loss of his job for being found guilty on Friday.

He was convicted of repeatedly striking his wife in the face and biting her in the face during a fight at their house in Millcreek Township early in the morning of Feb. 13, while Griffith was off duty.

Griffith did not testify and the defense presented no witnesses. But his lawyer, John Carlson, told the jury that Griffith admitted that he struck his wife with an open hand on the left side of the face, which, according to photographs presented in court, caused her face to swell and her lip to bleed.

Carlson argued that Griffith acted in self-defense. He said Griffith's wife, Dawn Griffith, 45, had been hitting and kicking him — including in the crotch — in a fight over him cheating on her and over him taking her cellphone right before the fight. Both had been drinking, according to evidence presented in court.

The self-defense theory fit with Dawn Griffith's trial testimony, in which she diverged from what she initially told the police and instead said that she was the aggressor during the fight and that her husband did nothing wrong.

"I am not a victim," Dawn Griffith said as soon as she took the stand.

"I didn't want him arrested," she said. "I was just as much in the wrong as he was."

The prosecutor, Hillary Hoffman, an assistant district attorney, pressed for a conviction based on photos of Dawn Griffith's swollen face, a 911 call and Dawn Griffith's statements to police at the scene.

Justin Griffith, Hoffman also told the jury in her opening statement, "is going to ask you to disregard the law, a law that he is familiar with as an Erie police officer."

In her closing argument, Hoffman reiterated to the jurors that they must consider the facts, including the photographs, and not be swayed by Dawn Griffith's testimony that her husband acted in self-defense.

"Mrs. Griffith's testimony does not match the facts," Hoffman told the jury. "She can't change the law and say this is not a crime."

Loss of job

Justin Griffith was convicted of a third-degree misdemeanor related to domestic violence, and federal law prohibits the purchase and possession of firearms by anyone convicted in any court of a "misdemeanor crime of domestic violence."

Such a conviction disqualifies a police officer for certification in Pennsylvania, according to the Pennsylvania Municipal Officers' Education and Training Commission.

Griffith was found guilty after a two-day trial in the courtroom of Judge Daniel Brabender. A jury of eight women and four men convicted him of the misdemeanor after deliberating for about two hours. Brabender convicted Griffith of a summary count of harassment.

The specific misdemeanor charge against Griffith was simple assault by mutual affray, or an assault that occurs during a fight in which the participants had agreed to take part. As a third-degree misdemeanor, the charge carries a maximum sentence of a year in prison. Brabender set sentencing for Jan. 24 and allowed Griffith to remain free on an unsecured bond of $10,000.

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Griffith was suspended with pay immediately following his arrest in February, but has been suspended without pay since the charges against him were bound over for trial at his preliminary hearing, in March — a hearing for which Dawn Griffith failed to appear. At that hearing, Millcreek District Judge Laurie Mikielski refused the defense's request to dismiss the case but reduced the original second-degree misdemeanor simple assault charge to a third-degree misdemeanor.

A deputy Erie police chief, Mike Nolan, sat through Griffith's trial and said that — no matter what the verdict — the police would review the situation with Griffith. Nolan confirmed that the federal law would disqualify Griffith from the force if he were convicted of domestic violence.

The Griffiths, who wed nine years ago, remain married and are in therapy, according to testimony.

As the verdict was read, Dawn Griffith sat in the gallery, directly behind her husband, and held a rosary as she slowly shook her head. Justin Griffith tilted his head back and looked upward as he sat at the defense table.

The two left the courtroom together.

Focus on photos, police reports

During the trial, Hoffman highlighted Dawn Griffith's injuries and her testimony that her husband hit her. She also cited the differences in the couple's physical characteristics — Justin Griffith is 6 feet tall and weighed 225 pounds at the time of the incident, and Dawn Griffith is 5 feet 3 inches tall and weighed 140 pounds at the time, according to testimony.

Hoffman asked the jury to consider what Dawn Griffith told police after she called 911, when she never argued her husband acted in self-defense. Hoffman said Justin Griffith acted with disproportionate force, and that, as a police officer, he was aware of the proper use of force.

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After the verdict, Hoffman said the case shows that the District Attorney's Office will pursue domestic violence cases when the evidence backs up the charges and no matter who the defendant is.

"Domestic violence does not discriminate whatsoever," Hoffman said.

Carlson, the defense lawyer, told the jurors that they were dealing with "a very sensitive matter" and that Justin Griffith slapped Dawn Griffith "in self-defense, to stop her continued attack."

"There has to be latitude for a married couple to work through issues without the government stepping in and branding one of them a criminal," Carlson told the jury in his opening statement.

In his closing argument, Carlson focused on self-defense and also suggested that Dawn Griffith, to get back at her husband in a possible divorce, could have hurt herself to make her injuries look worse in the photos that were entered into evidence.

The Erie Times-News typically does not identify victims in domestic violence cases. However, Dawn Griffith, following her husband's arrest, issued a public statement to the Erie Times-News, and posted a public statement on Facebook, in which she identified herself and said her husband acted in self-defense.

The domestic incident marks the second time in five years that Justin Griffith has been charged with a crime. He was acquitted in 2017 on a misdemeanor simple assault charge that he kicked a handcuffed and prone suspect during an October 2016 arrest at an apartment in Erie. He was reinstated to the police force following his acquittal.

'I have blood dripping everywhere'

The incident with Griffith's wife happened about 1:25 a.m. on Feb. 13, after the Griffiths had left a party and returned home to their residence on Amherst Road, according to testimony. Undisputed testimony also showed that Dawn Griffith was upset that her husband was cheating on her, and that she threatened divorce.

She was also upset, according to undisputed testimony, because her husband was threatening to get back at her by making public, or going viral with, a cellphone video that showed Dawn Griffith making derogatory comments about the woman with whom he was having an affair. In response, Dawn Griffith started using her cellphone to film her husband getting angry with her, and he grabbed the cellphone and struck her in the face.

Dawn Griffith called 911 and left the line open as she and her husband fought.

"Look at me," Dawn Griffith said, according to the recording of the call, which was repeatedly played in court. "I have (expletive) blood dripping everywhere."

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The 911 call sent Millcreek police to the Griffith's house, where Mark Fritz, a patrolman, was the arresting officer. He testified that Dawn Griffith, at the scene, said nothing to minimize her injuries, for which she refused treatment, and she said nothing about her husband acting in self-defense. Fritz said he told Dawn Griffith that police were going to charge her husband given the evidence, including the nature of her injuries.

"I know you hear this all the time; he's a police officer," Dawn Griffith told Fritz, according to a recording he made of their conversation at the scene. "I don't want him to lose his job over this, and I don't want him to get in trouble over this, but I want him to stop threatening me, stop taunting me, quit blackmailing me."

Testimony of Erie police officer

Another police officer also testified — Erie police Sgt. Tom Lenox, who said he is a close friend of the Griffiths. Shortly after Dawn Griffith was injured, Lenox said, she called him to come to the Griffiths' house, where she asked him to take cellphone photos of her face. Lenox was off duty at the time.

"She wanted me to show Justin," Lenox said of the photos, which showed Dawn Griffith's swollen face and lip which were presented to the jury along with other photos taken at the scene.

Lenox said that Dawn Griffith told him she had been "assaulted by Justin."

Lenox also testified that on the same early morning he picked up Justin Griffith after his arraignment. While in the car, Lenox said, Justin Griffith acknowledged that he struck Dawn Griffith and that "he was upset as far as his role."

Lenox appeared as a prosecution witness under subpoena, and he said during his testimony that he would rather not be in court.

"It is very uncomfortable and heartbreaking," Lenox testified.

"They are friends, coworkers, and I love them both dearly," he said of the Griffiths. "It is not a position that anyone wants to be in."

Contact Ed Palattella at epalattella@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNpalattella.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Domestic violence: Erie police corporal convicted of assaulting wife