Larry Griffin’s first public defender begged off his case after telling a judge that the accused rapist had been aggressive and threatening toward him when they met to discuss his upcoming legal battle.

His second, who took over a couple of weeks ago, describes Griffin as personable and good-natured.

“I made him laugh in our last meeting. He is engaging,” said John Riemer, Griffin’s new public defender. “He is a human being with more of a story than what’s been alleged in (his criminal) complaint.”

Riemer’s remarks about Griffin stand in stark contrast to those made by Bruce Wenger, the public defender initially appointed to represent the 39-year-old St. Paul man accused of raping four women.

In a hearing March 14, Wenger asked Ramsey County District Judge Richard Kyle to remove him as Griffin’s counsel because he feared for his safety after Griffin reportedly became “extremely agitated” during one of their meetings. Wenger said Griffin took an aggressive stance and became so threatening during the interaction that Wenger had to press the emergency button at the jail to alert deputies that he needed assistance for the first time in his 32-year-career.

Kyle ultimately decided to keep Wenger on the case, but the Ramsey County public defender’s office subsequently replaced him with Riemer, Riemer said Wednesday.

Riemer did not comment on Wenger’s working relationship with Griffin or the public defender office’s decision to take him off the case.

“All I can say is that I have no issues … no concerns working with him,” Riemer said. “My only concern is with what the state is trying to do to him.”

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Riemer met with Griffin, Kyle and Assistant Ramsey County Attorney Sarah Cory at a hearing Friday to talk about the coming trial.

Griffin told Kyle during the proceedings that he was comfortable with his new counsel.

Griffin didn’t say say the same about Wenger at the March 14 hearing. He told the judge that Wenger had repeatedly told him he had a losing case and urged him to negotiate a plea deal with the state despite Griffin’s insistence that he is innocent of the charges facing him.

Griffin wrote several letters expressing his concerns about Wenger to the public defender’s office, the Ramsey County court and the Minnesota Lawyer Professional Responsibility Board.

He is accused of raping four women in St. Paul late last year.

In three of the four cases, he is suspected of approaching women who were walking alone on Payne Avenue, forcing them into his car at gunpoint and raping them, according to the criminal complaints filed against him. In the last case, authorities say he threatened a woman with a knife who had accepted a ride from him before he sexually assaulted her.

Riemer advised Griffin on Friday to push back his trial — scheduled to start May 1 — to allow him more time to get up to speed on his case.

Griffin declined.

“As a human being I respect his decision, and as a lawyer, I will be ready to defend him,” Riemer said.