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Prosecutors describe Danford Grant's 'rape tool kit'

SEATTLE — KIRO 7 has uncovered new details about items taken from Danford Grant's car that will be used as evidence when he goes to trial May 5.

In documents filed this week in King County Superior Court, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Val Richey describes the items as part of a "rape tool kit" he claims Danford Grant used when he allegedly raped five women at massage parlors in Seattle, Bellevue and Shoreline in 2011 and 2012.

According to the documents, Grant had asked the court not to allow testimony about “evidence seized from the defendant’s car” specifically “an empty knife pouch, a knit head covering with an open face, a prescription bottle of Cialis, and an inoperable pellet pistol.”  Grant’s attorneys argued “admission of what could certainly be called ‘a rape tool kit’ to be highly prejudicial.’”

KIRO 7 was the first to report months ago on the discovery of the pellet gun, knit hat and Cialis.  What's just been released as attorneys get ready for trial is the detail of the empty knife sheath which was found in the center console of Grant's Honda Pilot, according to Richey’s Response to Defendant’s Trial Brief.

Two of the five alleged victims claim Grant held a knife to their throats before he raped them, including a woman who worked at Carnation Massage, identified in court documents as “JW.”

JW told KIRO 7 within days after Grant’s arrest that the Seattle lawyer was armed with a knife the first of two times she says he raped her.  However, no knife has ever been found.

According to the newly-filed documents, "both victims who were raped at knife-point describe a folding-type knife consistent in size with this empty sheath" found in the “rape tool kit.”  DPA Richey argues in the brief that evidence of the knife sheath and Cialis is admissible because "such a 'rape tool kit' is highly probative of a serial rapist's plan and intent."  The State is not planning to admit testimony relating to the pellet pistol or the knit ski cap because “no witnesses have come forward to indicate that a pistol was used or that their assailant for a knit ski cap.”

Grant's attorneys Richard Hansen and Cooper Offenbecher have said they will argue at trial that all sex between their client and the five alleged victims was consensual, not rape.

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Previous stories:

Lawyer charged with rape: The woman lied

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