Trial begins for former Doniphan, Mo., bus driver accused of child molestation

DONIPHAN, Mo. -- Sitting cross-legged in the witness stand, a 7-year-old girl described graphic incidents of alleged molestation at the hands of a former Doniphan School District bus driver on the opening day of the man's trial Thursday in a Ripley County courtroom.

Robert (Bob) Griffith Jr., 54, of Doniphan is accused of two counts of sodomy and two counts of child molestation in incidents that allegedly occurred during his bus route between August and December of 2006. His trial continued Friday, with one last witness for the prosecution before the defense presents its case.

Associate Circuit Judge John Bloodworth indicated during court Thursday he hopes the jury would be able to begin deliberations Friday afternoon.

The girl, dressed in a plaid skirt and green shirt, recalled for the prosecution Griffith touching her "privates." Yet, like a now 6-year-old alleged victim whose videotaped testimony was viewed by the court, while under cross examination by the defense the 7-year-old contradicted those statements.

A five woman, seven man Ripley County jury will have to determine if the girls' testimony, along with evidence from experts and law enforcement, is enough to convict Griffith.

Casually dressed in jeans, Griffith spent a few moments before the trial began talking with friends and family filling the seats behind his attorneys' table in the courtroom.

On the opposite side of the courtroom sat the parents and family members of the first girl, now 6, to accuse the man of molestation.

During opening statements, Ripley County Prosecuting Attorney Chris Miller told jurors Griffith would pick children up from Doniphan's morning pre-kindergarten program and molest them before taking them home. The case is being prosecuted by Miller and Special Prosecuting Attorney Megan Schueler of the Missouri Attorney General's Office.

Defense attorney Daniel Moore argued Griffith, who became a bus driver in 1996, is falsely accused. Law enforcement would testify no physical evidence of these crimes had been found in examinations of the girls, at Griffith's home or on the school bus, Moore told jurors.

"We are going to prove without a doubt he never molested or mistreated any child in his care," Moore said. "He is going to tell you 'I have no idea what they're talking about. No child came to harm on my watch.'"

Videotaped testimony taken from the now 6-year-old girl in September 2007 was the first item presented by prosecution.

The girl, blond hair neatly French-braided and clutching a yellow stuffed cat, was in tears when the tape began. During the interview, she would alternately calm down or begin crying, asking for her mother.

After identifying Griffith, the girl told Schueler, "he touched my pee pee," adding "I don't want to tell."

Moore, referring to previous interviews done with law enforcement, later asked if the girl had ever told her father she had dreamed this. She answered 'I don't know." He later asked her if that answer meant she didn't remember one way or the other and the girl replied, "yes."

"Did you tell your dad you had touched a boy's pee pee," Moore asked, again receiving a yes.

"Why," he asked.

"He said I had to, Bob told me," the girl said.

"Did someone tell you [Bob] was mean," Moore asked.

"He is mean ¿ I just knew he was mean," she answered.

"Were you ever alone on the bus with Bob," Moore asked.

"I don't think so," the girl said.

Dr. Claudia Prueschoff, who has operated her practice, Poplar Bluff Pediatrics, for 22 years, testified she completed a physical exam of the girl. Prueschoff told jurors she found that a portion of the girl's hymen, which would normally be 3 to 4 millimeters thick, was only

1 millimeter thick. While this condition can be caused by a birth defect or traumatic injury, the girl had none of the other signs that would indicate those possibilities, she said.

Prueschoff confirmed for Moore that she has no way of knowing at what age this occurred.

The girl's father, the first witness to testify in the courtroom Thursday, later told jurors he became concerned by a change in his daughter's behavior around November 2006.

In September 2006, he said, the bus, which normally dropped the girl back home at 10:50 a.m., began arriving later and at irregular times.

"She became very clingy. That was abnormal ¿ She was a very independent little girl," the man told Schueler.

When the girl made statements about kissing boys in late November and later described inappropriate touching, he first went to the school and then law enforcement, the father said. Griffith was placed on paid leave Dec. 4, 2006, and later fired.

Because the father is a member of law enforcement, Moore would later ask questions about special treatment.

The father said he never asked for special favors and a lead investigator in the case told the court that while the person in charge of the father's agency at a state level was present at one early meeting of investigators, that person was not involved in the investigation.

In response to questions from Schueler, the father told how his then 4-year-old daughter described "kissing a boy's pee pee." Moore asked if some of her statements were prefaced with the words, "I think." The father confirmed they were, but in questions from prosecution said not all of her descriptions began that way.

"She said 'Daddy, I thought you always had your eye on me. How did this happen?'" the man recalled in his testimony, in tears. "I didn't understand why she was acting [that] way. I failed her."

The girl's stepmother testified to the same behavior changes in the girl, as well as concerns about the bus's schedule.

Moore asked why there weren't changes in the girl's behavior in September 2006.

"There was a change. If I look now, I see everything," the woman said, sitting with her hands folded in her lap, blinking back tears. "I should have known ¿ The things that happened to [her], it never occurred to me ¿ could happen."

When the second girl, 5 at the time the molestation is alleged to have occurred, took the stand, Schueler began questioning her about what may have happened with Griffith or on the bus.

When the girl seemed reluctant, Schueler asked if she didn't like to talk about this.

"I don't. At all," the girl said.

"When you rode Bob's bus, did someone touch you where they are not supposed to," Schueler asked, receiving a "no" from the girl.

"Did Bob ever touch your privates," Schueler asked, with the girl answering "yes."

Moore later asked the girl if she had been told to say these things and she replied, "no." After rephrasing and asking the question several times, the girl said, "yes."

The defense attorney also spent a lengthy amount asking the girl if she rode four-wheelers and pink horses at Griffith's home or saw alligators there. She answered "yes" to many of the questions, as she did to most the questions he asked.

Prueschoff testified she completed an exam of the girl, finding no physical signs of abuse, but that the girl's behavior was typical of a child who had been molested.

"In 80 to 90 percent of children who have been victims of physical abuse, there are no physical findings," she said. "The [genitalia] tissue heals very quickly and often without scarring."

Moore asked if the doctor had any evidence Griffith had abused the now 7-year-old. Prueschoff said she did not, other than a statement the girl had made to the nurse. Details of this statement were not explained.

During the proceedings, which ran from 8 a.m. to after 6 p.m., jurors also heard from a woman who said Griffith used to be a neighbor of her parents. While Griffith sold that property a few years ago, people involved in the sale testified that, to the best of their knowledge, it was unoccupied from September to late November 2006.

Police believe Griffith took the children to this property.

The woman told jurors she saw Griffith driving a bus on that road, in the middle of the day, sometime after school started in 2006.

Griffith's former supervisor, Vern Rapier, later testified Griffith would have no reason take his bus down that road. Rapier admitted he was a friend of Griffith's before telling Schueler he did not believe the accused had ever brought his bus back late from the morning pre-kindergarten drop off route. While records were not kept of those times, Rapier said he would know if the bus came in as late as 1:30 p.m. Griffith had to pick up children for the afternoon pre-kindergarten class and have them at the school by 12:30 p.m., according to Rapier.

Members of law enforcement, including those from the Missouri State Highway Patrol and Doniphan Police Department, were called to describe how the investigation progressed after the first girl's father notified them of what his daughter had said.

Law enforcement confirmed that special lights used to reveal semen and blood had shown nothing on the school bus. Jurors were also told authorities did not find the girls' DNA at Griffith's home.

Doniphan Police Officer Robin Foster said he drove Griffith's bus route, which took about one and one-half hours, and that Griffith's current home is one to two miles from a home in the middle of the route. Griffith's former property sits about four miles off the route. Moore asked Foster, once, if he had seen four-wheelers or horses at the Griffith's home when authorities executed a search warrant at the residence.

"I don't recall," Foster said.