Tacoma, Wash. — In a hearing scheduled Friday, a violent serial rapist had planned to ask the court to be removed from the sex offender registry and relieved of his lifetime supervision. His motion also revealed he has been working for the city of Kent for nine years.
Donald Lee Giffin, 62, pleaded guilty to two counts of rape in 1982. He admitted to officials that he actually raped nearly 20 women and girls during a two-year period. The victims ranged in age from 13 to 40.
At Friday’s hearing, Giffin’s attorney asked for KIRO 7 not to film his client’s face. When the judge declined to rule on that, the attorney cancelled the hearing. “He did not know the press would be here today, or the news would be here today,” said Robert Freeby, Giffin’s attorney. Freeby said that Giffin was very emotional. “He has spent a good three decades with the woman he’s married to ... in relative anonymity - and he’s extremely concerned that by publishing his face throughout the news, that whatever privacy they’ve been able to establish up to this point will vanish,” Freeby said.
KIRO 7 confirmed with the city of Kent that Giffin has been working there since 2005 as a parts specialist in fleet services. Mayor Suzette Cooke had no idea of Giffin’s history until KIRO 7 informed her. “My first thought was, ‘Huh?’” Cooke said. But she said that after finding out Giffin has actually had positive performance evaluations and no behavioral problems reported, she said that he deserved a second chance. “I would hope that all of us have a chance to recognize, we need new starts sometimes and to have faith in our fellow people when they have shown consistently for over a decade of having no problems,” Cooke said.
The Washington Department of Corrections communications staff explained that Giffin was labeled as a level one sex offender, the lowest of three levels. A spokesperson with the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office said that his conviction happened before current sex offender laws. Therefore, county authorities cannot change that designation.
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