Federal guilty plea draws 150 months

Local News

July 2, 2009

Brian Smith The Richmond Register Thu Jul 02, 2009, 09:18 AM EDT

A Richmond man who was indicted on both state and federal charges for what Richmond police termed a “drug deal gone bad” in December was sentenced Wednesday to 150 months in federal prison.

Keith Anthony Griffith Jr., who had entered guilty pleas to two federal counts of trafficking in cocaine and one federal count of “using and brandishing a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking,” was sentenced in a Lexington federal courtroom by U.S. District Judge Jennifer B. Coffman.

Prosecutors asked for an “upward departure” from the minimum sentence of seven years because of the severity of the beating Griffith gave an informant, according to Kyle Edelen, spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office.

“It was a senseless beating because the informant was no threat to him,” Edelen said.

Griffith and another man, Aaron Brennan, also were indicted in Madison Circuit Court on second-degree assault charges for the Dec. 4, 2008, incident in which they allegedly kicked, beat and pistol-whipped an informant after discovering a recording device on him during a drug buy.

Federal court records indicate Griffith found the recording device, then began punching the informant in the face and head repeatedly, some of which was captured on video by the device before it was destroyed.

Griffith then allegedly asked Brennan to bring a handgun into the room and then “used the firearm to hit the informant multiple times in the head during the beating,” records state.

The informant was able to contact police with a cell phone during the assault, and when police responded to the scene, Griffith was seen at the front door of the Sizemore Drive apartment brandishing a handgun that “was covered in a wet red substance that appeared to be blood,” according to federal court documents.

Coffman sentenced Griffith to 132 months on the firearm charge, an increase of four years over the minimum, and to the minimum 18 months on the cocaine charges.

The state charges against the duo were reinstated after being dismissed Dec. 17 by Madison County Attorney Marc Robbins following the federal indictment. Richmond police had initially charged the duo with kidnapping, second-degree assault and tampering with physical evidence.

If convicted on the state charge, Griffith could receive five to 10 years in prison.

Brennan has entered a guilty plea to federal charges against him, but no sentencing date has been set, Edelen said.

As a condition of his plea agreement, Griffith is required to pay $5,000 in restitution to the informant to cover his medical expenses, and also must pay $900 to the Richmond Police Department for the cost of the recording device destroyed during the assault.

Brian Smith may be reached at bsmith@richmondregister.com or at 624-6694.

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