A Denver judge refused Wednesday to delay the January trial of a man accused of attempting to kill Vernice Griffin, who has been diagnosed with terminal cancer, as she sat in her car at a Denver intersection.
The judge also said he would allow Denver prosecutors to present evidence that the suspect, Brian Allen Washington, was the man who shot and killed Aurora Police Detective Mike Thomas two days later.
“This is a case with one unusual fact – the victim has been diagnosed with cancer,” Chief Denver District Judge Larry Naves said of Griffin.
“This is a state where victims have rights, the community has rights. This time, justice dictates that we try this case with hopes she (Griffin) can testify before she is too ill to testify or dies.”
Denver prosecutors said in court papers that an analysis of gun casings recovered at the two shooting scenes show that the shots fired at Griffin and Thomas were fired from the same gun. The gun was seized from Washington moments after he allegedly shot Thomas as the detective sat in his car at an Aurora intersection, authorities say.
During a lengthy pre-trial hearing Wednesday before Naves, defense attorneys Marshal Seufert and Janene McCabe said that evidence of the Thomas shooting shouldn’t be allowed in the Griffin case. They contend that no positive identification of Washington, 27, has made in the Griffin shooting.
But Naves said that he would allow Denver prosecutors to present evidence from Aurora to show that the shots at both scenes were fired from the same gun, that the man with the gun was Washington, and that the two shootings showed a “common plan or scheme” and method of operation.
Naves also refused to merge the Denver case with the Aurora case as requested by the defense, saying it would slow down the ability to get the Denver case to trial and “puts at increased risk that the victim would not be able to testify.”
Griffin was diagnosed in January with cancer and given less than four months to live. She has defied the doctors’ predictions. But in October, Naves permitted her taped deposition.
During the deposition, she recalled that as she sat in her car, the man who shot at her seemed to enjoy himself before he tried to kill her.
She said his eyes locked on hers, he mocked her, he petted his gun like it was a dog and cat and he mouthed the words, “Do you want to die?”
“I told him, ‘No, don’t do this,”‘ recalled the 55-year-old Griffin. The gunman then opened fire, she said.
Staff writer Howard Pankratz can be reached at 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com.
