Inmate investigated for alleged plot to murder judge

JONESBORO - Two Georgia politicians wrote letters to the State Board of Pardons on behalf of a prisoner now under investigation for allegedly plotting to kill the judge who put him behind bars. <br> <br> Georgia Bureau of Investigation agents are trying to determine whether Ted Lamar Griffin tried to hire a hit man to kill Clayton County Superior Court Judge Deborah Benefield, state prison spokeswoman Peggy Chapman said. <br> <br> In October 1998, Benefield sentenced Griffin to 20 years in prison for attacking his girlfriend&#39;s ex-husband. He was convicted of aggravated assault, battery, false imprisonment and impersonating an officer in the Sept. 20, 1996, attack on Raul Molina. <br> <br> State Sen. Terrell Starr, D-Jonesboro, and House Minority Leader Lynn Westmoreland, R-Sharpsburg, wrote letters questioning the length of Griffin&#39;s sentence, parole board records show. <br> <br> A sentencing review panel later reduced Griffin&#39;s sentence to five years. Benefield reportedly contested the panel&#39;s decision, saying it was unconstitutional. <br> <br> Chapman said GBI agents interviewed Griffin, 54, at the state medical prison in Augusta and looked through prison records of his telephone use and visitors. No charges have been filed against Griffin, although Clayton officials have increased security at Benefield&#39;s home and courtroom. <br> <br> In an unrelated case uncovered during the investigation, authorities also have charged the chief tax accountant in the Clayton tax office Jimmie Jannino Minter, 60, of Riverdale with illegally retrieving a vehicle registration from the state&#39;s Criminal Justice Information System computer. <br> <br> Minter, Griffin and two other women were named on the warrant for the vehicle registration case, Clayton County Sheriff Ronnie Clackum said. Betty Joyce Griffin, 51, and Lauren Beth Griffin, 18, were arrested Tuesday. <br> <br> The GBI declined to comment on the case, including whether the Griffin women were related to the inmate. <br> <br> Ted Griffin is under medium security at the Augusta prison, where he was moved in May 2000 from Bostick State Prison in Milledgeville. He is scheduled for release Oct. 3, 2003.

http://accesswdun.com/article/2002/4/196519