Jury Finds Man Guilty of Strangling Ex to Death in 2020

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“I looked at her like she was some kind of evil, not like she was a human being.”

Roderick Griffin, 58, admitted to the killing of 72-year-old Lillian Herndon that occurred on April 10, 2020, as shown in his interview with Baltimore Police that was played before a jury during his trial this week.

The defendant was found guilty of second-degree murder and false imprisonment on Sept. 28 less than a day after deliberations. The jury ruled not guilty of the first-degree murder charge.

Griffin’s sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 26 at 9:30 a.m. before Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Yvette Bryant, who presided over the trial.

The prosecution sealed its argument on Wednesday that Griffin’s pent-up anger over the demise of his and Herndon’s relationship led him to strangle her to death—one of the several stipulations of first-degree murder. Repeating his counter-argument from opening statements, defense attorney Todd Oppenheim maintained that he and his client were “not shifting around the ugly facts of this case,” but instead, “properly assigning the appropriate offense” of manslaughter.

Prior to closing arguments, Judge Bryant reminded the defendant and victim’s families who sat in the gallery “to keep their emotions in check” as to not influence the jury’s decision. However, the emotional tension in the courtroom never subsided during the two-hour proceeding.

On a large TV screen, the prosecution showed the jury a picture of the front of Herndon’s residence where a white-picket fence and a chain-linked fence stood on either side of a narrow walkway to her front door. Baltimore Police officers walked this very path that April day only to find Herndon’s body bound and lifeless under a blanket in her bedroom closet, she said.

Nothing appeared out of place, the prosecutor explained to the jury, except for a floor mat that Herndon’s daughter found next to her mother’s bed and another in front of her mother’s dresser. It wasn’t long before she then found her mother’s body, her feet bound by a belt, her arms tied behind her back with phone charging cables, a bandana over her mouth and wrapped around her head, and a pillowcase over her head.

The prosecutor said Herndon’s daughter became worried about her mother on April 11, 2020, when the victim texted her that she was “stepping out with Erik,” later identified in the courtroom as Griffin. Over the next few days, Herndon’s daughter only heard from her mother through text messages and grew increasingly concerned on April 17, 2020, when Herndon told her she was “having brunch” and a few minutes later, contradicted herself by saying she was helping with cooking.

Herndon’s daughter and two other family members found her body four days later.

The prosecutor’s closing arguments relied heavily on the communication between Herndon and the defendant starting in early March 2020 when the victim texted Griffin that, “I can’t do this anymore. I’m sorry, but you will have to leave my house.” She expressed similar sentiments over multiple days throughout March, including a text message on March 17, 2020, that said, “Time is up. You said you could go to your family. I love you, but I refuse to continue to room and board you.”

Each time Herndon told him to leave, the prosector said to the jury, his responses were “keeping her on the hook.” Then, on the day of the killing, she added, Griffin strangled Herndon to death—an action that a doctor testified requires at least 4.4 pounds of pressure.

Moments after the prosecutor concluded, Oppenheim quietly rose from his seat.

“Treat this case as if you had a relative that was over there,” said the defense attorney, pointing to Griffin.

Oppenheim described his client’s actions of binding and gagging Herndon as “the freakout,” and reminded the jury that this was among the requirements of manslaughter.

The defense attorney also alluded to the defendant suffering from mental illness, acknowledging his short stay at Sheppard Pratt in 1986 and how Griffin was seen talking to himself at least five times during his police interview when detectives weren’t in the room.

“This room is evil,” Griffin is heard saying in the video footage during one of these moments that played before the jury. “Too many ghosts in this room.”

“The rash actions after [Herndon’s murder] don’t fill in the gaps before[hand],” Oppenheim concluded.

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