Rapist denied parole second time
Convicted rapist William E. Griffith Jr., who has been in prison for 20 years, has been denied parole for a second time.
Convicted rapist William E. Griffith Jr. will have to wait 10 more years for his next parole hearing.
Griffith, 66, has been in prison for 20 years. He came up for parole for the second time in January, prompting objections from Stark County's prosecutor and sheriff.
The hearing was delayed, and ultimately the Parole Board decided in April to keep Griffith in prison, said JoEllen Culp, spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.
Authorities labeled Griffith a serial rapist and suspected him in about 30 rapes in Stark County during the late 1970s and early 1980s. He pleaded guilty in 1988 to raping a Jackson Township woman after breaking into her home. In 1994, he was convicted of a rape in Portage County.
Griffith is serving 20 to 50 years in prison. His next scheduled hearing is in 2019.
His case marked the first time a Stark County judge ordered DNA testing in a criminal case and led to calls in the state Legislature to extend the window for prosecuting rape cases.