Photo: Tony Griffin
A man facing charges of stabbing a woman in early August last year was set to go on trial Tuesday in Baxter County Circuit Court, but opted to enter a no contest plea to a reduced charge of first-degree battery instead.
Forty-eight-year-old Tony Griffin was sentenced to 10 years in prison by Circuit Judge John Putman. Griffin is currently an inmate at the Ester Unit of the state prison system at Pine Bluff on an earlier conviction from Columbia County in south Arkansas.
He was charged initially in Baxter County with criminal attempt to commit murder in the first degree and third-degree battery.
Griffin was arrested Aug. 4 last year when police were called to a Mountain Home motel where they reported finding two people covered in blood. The woman told officers she had been stabbed, and Griffin is alleged to have admitted he wielded the weapon.
According to court records, Griffin and the woman were arguing when Griffin is alleged to have grabbed her by the throat, pulled her from the bicycle she was on and stabbed her a number of times. Griffin told officers the dispute broke out because the woman owned him money and threatened to have him “taken care of” if he kept demanding repayment. According to court records, Griffin is alleged to have demonstrated to police officers how he had grabbed the victim and stabbed her.
When the victim was interviewed at Baxter Regional Medical Center, she said she had been staying in Griffin’s motel room for nearly two weeks. She told police on the day of the altercation, she had gone to the motel to return Griffin’s room key since she wanted to end the relationship.
According to the woman, Griffin was attempting to pull her into his room when the stabbing occurred. The altercation ended when other people in the area came to assist after hearing the woman’s cries for help.
In two earlier criminal cases in Columbia County, Griffin was convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm, and for making threats to a supervisor at his place of employment and to a woman he dated. Griffin is currently in prison on the felon in possession of a firearms charge, according to Arkansas Department of Correction records.
Griffin wrote a letter to the court in mid-May asking about the possibility of moving his trial to another location. He said as a black man he did not believe he could get a fair trial in this area. Griffin alleged he had been threatened while living in Mountain Home, and at the North Central Unit of the state prison system at Calico Rock.
As the plea was being taken, Judge Putman began going over the mechanics of how Griffin would pay his fines, fees and costs after being released from prison. When the judge instructed Griffin the payments had to be made to the Baxter County Sheriff’s Office, he said he wanted to work out some way to make the payments without having to physically be in the county. “I am not planning to ever be back up here,” Griffin told the court.
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