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Profile of top Seattle lawyer accused of rape

September 26, 2012 @ 4:42 pm (Updated: 5:16 pm - 9/26/12 )

A Seattle lawyer who wrote a book on preparing for a trial, is facing his own criminal case after being arrested and accused of four rapes at two massage businesses.

A judge this afternoon set bail at $3 million for 47-year-old attorney Danford Grant. He'll answer the charges in court later this week.

Monday night Seattle police arrested Grant after he returned to a Ballard-area massage clinic where he allegedly sexually assaulted an employee at knifepoint on a prior visit.

Prosecutors say Grant was a regular customer at the Carnation Massage Clinic. Employees called police and attempted to detain him. Talking with an employee tonight, she would only describe the crime as "terrifying."

Grant is also a suspect in a rape that took place in August at a Bellevue massage business.

RapeSuspect

Photos: Linkedin profile pic of Danford Grant (left) and Bellevue PD sketch of suspected rapist

Grant is a partner at the Seattle law firm Bailey Grant Onsager. The firm’s three named shareholders are Darrin Bailey, Danford Grant, and David Onsager.

The law office's bio for Grant indicates he has "successfully tried over a dozen cases and obtained favorable settlements or pre-trial judgments in countless others." He's argued before the Washington Court of Appeals, the Washington Supreme Court, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

A search of cases finds he's represented an employee who sued Hewlett-Packard for discrimination. He's also argued cases involving pregnancy discrimination in the workplace and employees who wanted to get out of non-compete contracts.

He's a 1996 UW grad and has a law degree from the University of Kansas. He was listed as a "rising star" in Washington Law and Politics Magazine 2005 and 2007.

Grant worked in the Seattle City Attorney's office, on employee litigation cases, from 1996 until 2000.

He has a wife and three kids. One of his North Seattle neighbors says he "can't believe" the attorney he knows might be a sex criminal.

By LINDA THOMAS

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Comments (6)


  • Add A Comment

  • mnpat wrote...
    Attorneys are not special people....
    September 26, 2012 4:17 pm
    They jsut know more about the law so they can twist it and of course make more money because they know how to twist it.....good podium to do attorney jokes......."what do you call 500 atorneys at the bottom of the ocean?".....anyone?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Old Timer wrote...
    Attorneys are not special people
    September 27, 2012 8:05 am
    mnpat, A good start
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • mnpat wrote...
    Old Timer....
    September 27, 2012 10:24 am
    Excellent, you win the years supply of mop and glow!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • ron prevost wrote...
    Massage workers who speak little or no English?
    September 27, 2012 10:39 am
    Well, gee. What's a horny racist to think?

    Hang the slime.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • lawman1214 wrote...
    Sketch
    September 28, 2012 1:13 am
    What a great job the sketch artist did. Has anyone noticed how perfectly they matched. That guy would not have lasted more than a couple days if that sketch was anywhere around his work or home neghborhood. A+ to the Artist!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • lawman1214 wrote...
    ron prevost
    September 28, 2012 1:23 am
    Well Ron, I don't see how you find racism to be an issue in the released story? He may be guilty of a far more terrible crime of raping 4 women violently? Or were you meaning that the victim's were forenighers and therefore racist against the suspect. I'm not sure what kind of massage business these ladies worked at, but it seems that if it were a real message therapist they would need to speak and understand engllish to properly conduct their jobs? My guess is these were the kind of massage business that offer the "feather dusting" special?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }