23 Year Old Father Sentenced for Shaking Baby Daughter

Adams/Broomfield County District Attorney Don Quick announced today that Daniel Griffin (dob: 12/30/1986) was sentenced for shaking his 70-day old daughter causing devastating and irreversible brain damage.

On June 9, 2009, Thornton Police were dispatched to an apartment complex on Woburn Keep on a report of a physical domestic in progress. Upon arrival, law enforcement found a baby girl, Jazmyn Griffin (dob: 03/31/2009), with eyes closed and breathing. Jazmyn was transported to Children’s Hospital where it was determined that she suffered neurologic devastation. Because of brain swelling, a hole had to drilled into her head to save her life.

The mother of Jazmyn reported that the victim was crying and spitting out her bottle. The mother left the room with Griffin being alone with the baby. When she returned she noticed that something was wrong with Jazmyn. She further reported that Griffin said that he might have squeezed Jazmyn too hard.

Griffin stated and displayed to police how he violently shook his daughter, then later recanted saying that he didn’t remember what happened. Griffin also admitted to being under the influence of methamphetamines at the time.

Jazmyn has suffered neucrosis and calcification of the occipital and parietal lobes of her brain (partial brain death). As a result, her head will never grow because of the death of her brain matter. She is blind for life not because her eyes can’t see but her brain can’t see. She also sustained periportal above the hylum of her liver indicating that she had been squeezed very hard. At 18-months old, Jazmyn is unable to walk or talk and she is fed through a stomach tube.

“This case is beyond tragic”, states DA Quick. “An innocent child will suffer for the rest of her life as the result of horrible choices made by her father. He will pay the price for those choices for 24 years, but Jazmyn will pay for the rest of her life.”

Griffin plead guilty to original charge of Knowing Reckless Child Abuse Causing Serious Injury (F3) on June 25, 2010. Adams County District Judge Chris Melonakis sentenced Griffin to 24 years in the Colorado Department of Corrections, with 458 pre-sentence credit, and five years mandatory parole.