Jimmy Griffin, a former Houston firefighter and resident of Liberty, Texas, was convicted on Thursday, Oct. 24, for the prolonged sexual abuse of his two stepdaughters. The abuse spanned an eight-year period, from 2012 to 2020, and culminated in charges only after their public outcry.
Griffin, 52, faced trial in the 75th State District Courtroom under District Judge Mark Morefield, where he was convicted by a jury of two charges — Sexual Assault of a Child and Indecency With a Child by Exposure. He was sentenced to 20 years for the sexual assault charge and 10 years for the indecency charge with Judge Morefield opting to stack the sentences instead of letting them run concurrently, to ensure that Griffin spends as much time as possible in prison.
The survivors, who were both minors when the abuse began, testified about the trauma they endured under Griffin’s care. Their accounts and evidence presented a clear picture of the repeated abuse that they had suffered, which ultimately led to the conviction.
Prosecuting the case for the Liberty County District Attorney’s Office were Assistant District Attorneys Kayla Hebert and Kevin Barnes. During the trial, both Jimmy Griffin and his wife, Michelle, suggested that the two girls had lied about their claims as they had recanted previously after making outcries. Their mother’s support for Griffin in the face of their accusations has led to them being estranged since 2020 after the last public outcry.
It was in 2020 when the younger of the two daughters messaged her cousin complaining of the treatment she was receiving from her mother and stepfather, and stating that she was uncomfortable with Jimmy kissing her on the lips and making her lie in bed with him. The cousin’s father showed the message to the father of the two victims, which led to the father filing for custody of his youngest daughter. The oldest daughter, by that time, was headed off to college.
“The girls had lived with their mother for 13 years and in three weeks, the mom gave up full custody of her daughter and continued her relationship with Griffin,” Hebert said.
Once she was removed from the home, the younger daughter continued to relate stories of abuse to her paternal family, telling them that Griffin had forced her into a bathroom, locking her in, before sitting on the toilet and telling her to touch his erect penis. She testified that he continued talking to her about sex while she tried to remove herself from the bathroom. When she refused his advances, he eventually released her from the bathroom.
Initially her older sister denied the younger sister’s claims of abuse. The older sister testified at trial that her mother and Griffin were threatening to withhold her car and her ability to go away to college. Once she arrived on campus, she sought help from a therapist and soon realized that her childhood was anything but normal. Like the younger sister, she turned to her paternal family for help. She explained in trial that she had voluntarily been estranged from her father and his family for years because of her mother and Griffin.
“Every time she went to see her father, she faced an interrogation from Jimmy and Michelle when she got home. She avoided the interrogations by just not going to see her father,” Hebert said.
The older daughter began talking about past incidents of abuse, two of which were reported to law enforcement. In 2013, when she was 11, she made an outcry that she fell asleep in her mom and Jimmy’s bed while watching television and woke up to Jimmy sexually assaulting her.
“Her mom told the cops she was asleep in the bed and was awakened by her daughter screaming and running from the room,” Hebert said. “Her daughter testified that her mother rolled over in bed away from her while Jimmy was sexually assaulting her, ignoring what was happening to her daughter.”
After this incident, the older sister submitted to a sexual assault nurse exam (SANE). One of the most puzzling aspects of testimony in the trial revolved around this incident. Even though his stepdaughter accused him of sexually assaulting her that night, Griffin, who took the stand during his trial, testified that he went to work his firefighting shift while Michelle drove the older daughter to Texas Children’s Hospital for the exam.
“On the way to the hospital, the older daughter said her mother was trying to convince her that nothing had happened, that it was a bad dream,” said Hebert, adding that the daughter eventually recanted her statement due to parental pressure.
The next major incident in the case happened in 2016 when Griffin took the two girls on a boating trip to Lake Livingston in Polk County. After driving them to an island, the three went swimming. The older daughter testified that Griffin was grinding his genitalia into her while they were in the water. The younger daughter testified that Griffin exposed his genitalia to them while on the island.
Griffin related in his testimony about going to shore for beer and returning to the island where he became drunk. He claimed his genitalia was exposed when he got out of the boat and went behind a tree to pee. Feeling the effects of the alcohol, he asked the older daughter to drive them back to the boat dock. Being an inexperienced boater, she drove the boat too fast in a no-wake zone, which alerted the park police.
When they got to shore, Griffin was confronted by park police. The park police officer who responded to that call was emotional as he testified to the two young girls coming up to him and asking for help. He recalls enlisting the help of a Polk County sheriff’s deputy. The case was forwarded to Liberty County where the family lived, but once again, the girls recanted.
“Their mom allowed Jimmy to return to their home just a week after that incident. They then took the girls on trips to Florida and bought them gifts – typical grooming behavior. They were coached to say that Jimmy had a medical emergency on the lake,” Hebert said.
The jury also heard the older daughter testify to being raped by Griffin when she was 15.
“She remembers waking up to Jimmy raping her, holding his hand over her mouth so she can’t cry out for help. Both daughters testified that if they wanted to watch TV in their home, they had to do it while lying in bed with Griffin. During these moments, he would rub his fingers over their panty lines and brush up against their nipples,” Hebert said.
When their mother took the stand, she tried to deny all the claims made by her daughters, calling them “liars” and suggesting that the law enforcement officers who took reports from her and others also lied about Griffin’s sexual assaults on the girls.
Other testimony in the trial came from an expert who spoke about why children often recant their public outcries due to a lack of support and a fear of retaliation. One of Griffin’s two sons from a previous marriage testified to being estranged from his father after witnessing diabolical behavior that included burning a dog alive. He also claimed to have witnessed his father showering with the youngest daughter, locking the bathroom door so nobody else could enter.
Hebert remarked on the bravery of the two daughters coming forward to testify about the abuse, particularly without the support of their own mother.
“They were afraid to tell anyone. Jimmy Griffin was a war veteran and a firefighter. Those are two things we all think of as noble professions, but his son testified to him burning the neighbor’s dog alive and said he was cruel to all animals. His son said his father made him eat his own vomit on one occasion when he threw up while eating. His dad set a ‘spank timer’ and if he didn’t eat the food and vomit before the timer went off, he would get a beating,” Hebert said. “This guy hid behind being a hero, but he was really a vile person in real life.”
It took the jury a mere 40 minutes to reach a guilty verdict.
“We had 13 members of the jury, including the alternate. Ten of them stayed after for allocution (victim’s impact statements). Half of them waited to watch him be escorted out of the courtroom in handcuffs,” Hebert said. “Even though we did not request fines as part of his verdict, the jury assessed $10,000 in fines on each of the two charges.”
“Jimmy Griffin should have been the one to protect these girls from harm, yet he became the very person they needed protection from,” said Hebert. “These brave sisters tried countless times to tell their story, and for so long, no one listened. I am profoundly grateful that this jury listened.”
Hebert added that the jury’s verdict sends a powerful message of vindication to these courageous young women.
“I know they are deeply appreciative of each and every one of you. Thank you for your service—you have made Liberty County a safer place, not only for our victims but for our entire community,” she said, directing comments to the jury.
Prosecutor Kevin Barnes also thanked the jury for returning swift justice for the two victims.
“I would like to thank the jury for their service throughout this emotionally taxing and difficult trial,” said Chief Kevin Barnes. “I am also deeply grateful to these courageous young girls who came forward and stood up for themselves. I hope this verdict brings them some measure of peace. Additionally, I want to recognize the invaluable contributions of Plum Grove Police Officer Jeremy Dodson, Chief Angela Allen and Doug O’Quinn with the Cleveland ISD Police Department; without their dedication and assistance, this trial may not have been possible.”
District Attorney Jennifer Bergman said the verdict is a powerful reminder that justice can and will prevail.
“We are grateful to the brave young ladies who came forward and shared their stories, allowing justice to be served,” said Bergman. “Thanks to the diligent work of our law enforcement officers, the prosecutorial team, and the dedication of the jury, Jimmy Griffin will spend the next 30 years of his life in prison—exactly where he belongs. No longer will he have the opportunity to prey upon or harm any other young girls, and our streets will be safer because he has been removed from society.”
That is one sick individual to do that to children. I believe the mother that stood by and watch all those years and did nothing is just as guilty. I think that everyone that reads this article should voice their opinions to the DA and have charges filed against her too.
When I was 14, my stepfather of 9 years decided that he was suddenly interested in a different kind of abuse towards me.. previously there were bouts of both physical and emotional abuse. I remember walking down the stairs at night to go get a drink of water, as I was passing back by the loving room he told me to take a seat and talk to him for a bit, the man always made me nervous, so I did and the first thing he did was offer me a beer. He was laying on the couch under a blanket, the tv on next to me… I looked up to see some pretty hardcore pornography playing quietly and looked back to him to see him looking from me to the screen and back with his hands under the blanket… I ran from him, made it upstairs and pushed my dresser in front of my bedroom door. I thought if I pretended like the event, the utter bizarrely weirdness of the whole thing, would fade away and we could just go back to him mostly ignoring me unless it was to berate me for some small slight… However.. it just got weirder.. he was driving me somewhere one night and started asking me “what does he (my boyfriend) have that I don’t have? I’m better looking than he is, I’ve got a job and a big *D*, etc.” he just went into a tirade about how he, my 30 something stepfather, was a better romantic choice for me than my, 17 year old, boyfriend. He also asked me if he left my mother would I be with him…Again it was awkward and uncomfortable. In my case my stepfather never sexually touched me, 1 main reason , that boyfriend he was putting down scared my stepfather. Step was around 5’4 and 140, boyfriend was around 6’ and 180 and an athlete with a temper but always super protective of me in the 3 years I’d known him. Anyway, the point of this rambling backstory. I went to my mom and told her about the porn event. The first thing she did was accuse me of lying. She swore I was making it up because I didn’t like the man (You wouldn’t like someone who’d been physically and emotionally abusive to you since you were 5 either) so I up and left in the middle of the night and stayed at a friends house. I told her I would come back when he was gone. She just couldn’t believe me. She eventually forced me to come home (I was still a minor) and after that the car conversation with the step happened. I told her again and she didn’t believe me AGAIN.. until he stuck his foot in his own mouth trying to justify that conversation by saying something along the lines of how he was trying to understand what teenage girls think of when looking for relationships or some such absolute rubbish. Eventually she got rid of him and by Christmas that year we were packing up and moving states and he never came back.
I will say it hurt like hell to not be believed, but I will also that until I was an adult and looking at those memories, hell their whole marriage, from a different perspective I don’t see the abuse my mom was going through as well. The physical abuse, the emotional and psychological abuse along with the utter gaslighting if she ever confronted him on anything. He pushed he so hard she ended up hospitalized for 4 months because her mind just couldn’t handle all of that, I ended up with an eating disorder and anxiety.. both of us were suffering and most of the time we hid it so well we couldn’t see. She put it that she was my mother so she was supposed to hide her pain from me, and I told her that when she was hiding from me she missed what I was hiding from her. Anyway, the point… based on this report, the mother of these girls is in deep denial and refuses to see the truth, now where she was asleep and just rolled over in her sleep and woke to her daughter screaming and running from the room, or weather she actively lay there and played camel in the sand while her daughter was assaulted are both unprovable. I can definitely see why the daughter believes that if she was being traumatized in the bed with her mother but we (the audience to this tragedy) have no way of knowing which statement, if either is the whole truth. Other than that one statement, I don’t see any others where the mother was allegedly present for the abuse? I may be missing something. My point here is that unless it’s provable that she witnessed this kind of abuse or had knowledge that the abuse was going on and refused to help her daughters (belief of the facts and intent are important here) I can’t see what she could be imprisoned for. Him? Absolutely and I wish he’d gotten counts for each child and make that 30 years into 60. But for the mother? In this case we don’t know her mental state, we don’t know what her husband was telling he. Hell my stepdad told my mom I came on to him. At the very least this woman needs some serious therapy so that when the time comes and she’s alone she may understand the damage she did to her children if only in not believing them when they did come forward, as well as the damage she allowed the man to do.
I know my mom found it so hard to believe that man who was supposed to love her and protect her was not only generally abusive but suddenly was making moves on a kid he’d raised since age 5. Mom already assumed he was cheating and with that being the case why would he go after me? It screwed with her head and between him saying I was making the whole thing up just to get rid of him, for a variety of reasons though one of my favorites was “she’s jealous she doesn’t have all your attention”.
I’m not saying there isn’t more to the story that isn’t posted and maybe there is proof she committed a crime she could go to prison for, but it seems that
most of what I’m reading is that he did this crap when mom wasn’t around or took them off on their own to do traumatize them. There are many options for mom’s choices in this case that have nothing to do with direct knowledge or participation. As a parent myself of two grown daughters I’ve always been hyper vigilant about this kind of thing because of my background but I can say if my husband came home from boating with the kids, says he got drunk, peed on a tree and let one of the kids drive even though they shouldn’t have, it seems plausible… it’s the rest of the story that
makes no sense and I would probably have a lot more questions than she apparently did..
😪😪😪
I have to agree I think that the DA should press charges against the mother as well for allowing these years of abuse and torment of her own daughters and she simply did not care.
I also agree
Why in the world did the mother let this abuse drag on for so long is a crime. The DA should follow up with a thorough investigation into Michelle(The Mother) and at the very least should be charged with gross negligence for her supporting this sex offender knowing what he was doing on behind closed doors is utterly disgusting and I hope the DA will go after her next to keep future children safe.
Why did you report some of the details of what he did? They were minors. Although no names were mentioned, this is a small town where everybody knows everyone. That seems like that may cause more problems for those girls than they’ve already been through. Good job again blue bonnet, not thinking of the victims or the outcome of your actions.