Danford Grant defense ‘very happy’ as serial rape trial begins

“Good morning,” said Danford Grant, as he turned and faced a packed gallery at the King County courthouse Monday.

Grant, a high-powered Seattle attorney turned accused serial rapist, scanned the crowd of 100 prospective jurors, 12 of whom will be tasked with deciding his fate.

Jury selection in the case will resume Tuesday, after the pool of potential jurors was narrowed to 48 following a question and answer phase of the process Monday afternoon. Many jurors were excused from service after indicating that they could not be fair and impartial due to extensive coverage of the case of the news.

Among those eliminated was a man who said he had already made up his mind about Grant’s guilt or innocence based on media reports from late 2012, when Seattle police arrested Grant outside a massage parlor in Greenwood, where a masseur accused him of raping her for the second time.

Grant, a father of three married to a (now former) assistant Seattle city attorney, would later be charged with the rape or attempted rape of five women – all of them Asian and all of them employees at massage parlors in Seattle, Bellevue, or Shoreline.

Heading into jury selection on Monday, Grant faced nine felony charges: three counts of first-degree rape, two counts of second-degree rape, three counts of attempted second-degree rape, and one count of first-degree burglary.

After “additional investigation and case preparation,” the King County Prosecutor’s Office announced early Monday morning that it would move to have four of the nine charges dismissed, meaning jurors would hear evidence related to two alleged victims rather than five.

“We are very happy with how that turned out,” one of Grant’s defense attorneys, Richard Hansen, told KIRO Radio outside the courtroom Monday.

But the motion, which was granted, could end up being detrimental to the defense.

Grant’s attorneys may no longer be able to use a video in court that shows one of the alleged victims, identified in court documents as “J.W.,” engaging in an act of prostitution in the same massage parlor where Grant is accused of raping her.

“J.W.” is no longer reflected in the charges, so the video may no longer be relevant in the case. It could have bolstered Grant’s defense that the alleged victims were prostitutes who had consensual sex with him in exchange for money.

The prosecutor’s office declined to comment further on the charges that were dismissed (one count first-degree rape, two counts second-degree rape, one count attempted second-degree rape), noting that Grant still faces trial on five, violent felony counts (two counts first-degree rape, two counts attempted second-degree rape, and one count first-degree burglary).

Opening arguments in the case are expected Wednesday.