Updated 5:26 p.m.
BURLINGTON — Ex-CNN producer John Griffin, who reached a plea deal late last year with federal prosecutors on child sexual abuse charges in Vermont, was sentenced Tuesday to 19.5 years in prison.
Judge William K. Sessions III imposed the sentence on Griffin during a hearing in U.S. District Court in Burlington.
Griffin, formerly of Stamford, Connecticut, pleaded guilty in December to one of the three charges against him of “using a facility of interstate commerce to attempt to persuade, induce, entice or coerce a minor to engage in unlawful sexual activity,” according to the indictment against him.
Two remaining charges were dismissed as part of the plea deal. The plea agreement allowed the judge to impose a penalty on Griffin of not less than 10 years and up to the remainder of his life.
In addition to the prison term, Griffin, 45, was ordered to serve 15 years of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay $1.1 million in restitution.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Drescher, the prosecutor in the case, asked for the judge to impose a prison sentence of a little more than 21 years. David Kirby, an attorney representing Griffin, called on Sessions to hand down a sentence of 10 years in prison for his client, the mandatory minimum for the offense.
The girl Griffin admitted to sexually abusing in 2020 and her grandmother took part in the hearing Tuesday via video and both expressed outrage at Griffin’s conduct in their victim impact statements.
“The child that you raped was my granddaughter,” the grandmother said to Griffin, “You forever ruined a 9-year-old girl.”
The girl told the judge she has difficulties trusting others. “I’ll never trust anyone again,” she said.
She then spoke directly to Griffin. “You make me sad and angry,” she said to him.
Sessions praised the girl for her strength in addressing the court. “You are a very courageous and smart and accomplished person,” the judge told the girl.
According to charging documents, Griffin was accused of luring a mother and her then 9-year-old daughter from Nevada to Vermont in July 2020. He was charged with paying more than $3,000 for their travel to a home he had in Ludlow, where he forced the girl into unlawful sexual acts.
He also was accused of trying unsuccessfully to lure other parents online to come to Vermont with their daughters, according to the indictment.
Griffin, a veteran CNN producer, was fired from his job with the network after his arrest.
Kirby, in calling for the lighter sentence for his client during Tuesday’s hearing, pointed to mental health issues Griffin had suffered. He also said his client had been using cocaine and alcohol at the time and had also been experiencing marital difficulties.
“I know he is genuinely remorseful,” Kirby said, adding that his client has worked to be a productive person while incarcerated. “This is not a person who is sitting there in jail just frittering away his time,” the defense attorney said.
Drescher, the prosecutor, countered that a harsher sentence was warranted because the conduct occurred over a lengthy period, not just one instance.
“This abuse is the product of substantial effort over time,” he said, later adding, “Short of ending a person’s life it’s hard to imagine a worse offense.”
The prosecutor said Griffin came from a privileged life, graduating from Princeton University, owning multiple homes, and working as a producer on CNN for the Chris Cuomo show.
He characterized Griffin as a master manipulator. “Mr. Griffin knows what to say and when to say it,” Drescher said.
Griffin also spoke before he was sentenced, telling the judge that he was sorry for his conduct and he said he felt “awful” for what he did to the victim in the case. “I am deeply remorseful,” he said.
He said he acted without thinking about consequences, believing it was all playing out in an online world. “People were no longer people, they became screen names,” he said.
Sessions, before he imposed the nearly 20-year sentence, said Griffin’s conduct warranted a “severe” penalty.
“I just find the behavior of Mr. Griffin to be beyond the pale,” the judge said.
