She said she just wanted a ride to her boyfriend’s home — before the man who picked her up pulled a gun and raped her. The man’s attorneys argued the sex was consensual.

The woman’s tearful testimony Wednesday highlighted the first day of trial for Larry Griffin in Ramsey County District Court. He is accused of sexually assaulting four people in St. Paul last fall, three of them with a gun. Wednesday’s was the first of several trials the 39-year-old St. Paul man faces.

The 31-year-old Lino Lakes woman took the stand Wednesday and described what happened after she says Griffin pulled his gun on Aug. 30.

“He told me if I screamed, he was going to shoot me,” the woman testified. He ordered her into the back seat of his van and then raped her, she said. The Pioneer Press does not generally name people who say they are victims of sexual assault.

Griffin is on trial for just one of the cases, charged with two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct for the Aug. 30 allegation. He has pleaded not guilty. Charges have been filed in the other cases and will likely be tried later.

DEFENSE ARGUES CONSENT

Griffin’s attorney, John Riemer, argued in his opening statement that the sex that morning was consensual.

“Mr. Griffin is not the rapist that they’re putting up here. Mr. Griffin is a human being. … He is not a rapist,” Riemer said. He further argued that jurors should judge testimony on “the three R’s”: That it be reasonable, reliable and rational. And then he added a fourth.

“There is one more ‘R’: regret. Regret for a poor choice.”

Ramsey County assistant prosecutor Jill Gerber acknowledged that Griffin’s accuser made some bad choices that night, but added, “Remember, this defendant used a gun to get what he wanted. It wasn’t consensual.”

The other cases against Griffin do not involve a consent defense, and largely rely on DNA evidence, Riemer said.

Time ran out before Reimer could cross-examine his client’s accuser Wednesday; that cross-examination will likely take place Thursday.

WOMAN RECOUNTS NIGHT

The woman testified that she had left her boyfriend’s house on St. Paul’s East Side after a fight, and was walking along Payne Avenue with some bags and her Chihuahua when Griffin drove up to her in his van.

After talking to him, she agreed to let him give her a lift to a friend’s house nearby.

“He seemed like he wanted to keep talking to me, and I just didn’t want to stand there any longer,” she replied when Ramsey County assistant prosecutor Sarah Cory asked why she accepted the ride. “I had a lot of things on me, too, that I didn’t want to keep carrying.” Related Articles In a first for Minnesota law enforcement, dog being used to detect electronic devices used by criminals

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Griffin dropped her off at the friend’s house, but not before repeatedly saying he wanted to “hang out,” the woman testified. She replied that he could come to her friend’s house, but he said he didn’t want to because the friend had friends he was worried might “rob him.”

Early that morning, the woman asked Griffin if he could take her back to her boyfriend’s house so she could get the rest of her things. They communicated by text through her friend’s phone.

After Griffin picked her up, he pulled into an alley and pulled a gun, and began ranting about other friends of his, “and then suddenly, he said he was gonna use (the gun) on me,” the woman said. “I asked if he was kidding and he said no.”

The woman said Griffin ordered her to the back seat of his van, where he raped her.

“I had … a lot of thoughts about what to do, should I jump out of the car and run? But so many things could happen. … I didn’t want to die,” she said, tearing up.

At one point, she said he put the gun down on the seat, and she considered grabbing it but couldn’t bring herself to do it. She said he then handed her her clothes, apologized and dropped her off at her friend’s home.

At the urging of a relative, the woman went to Regions Hospital later that morning for a sexual assault exam.

POLICE RECOVERED A GUN

Several police officers also testified Wednesday, saying a gun was recovered from Griffin’s van when he was arrested.

The gun turned out to be a pellet gun but looks similar to any other gun, testified officer Mark Lundquist, who works for the St. Paul Police Department’s forensic unit.

Two more replica guns were found in Griffin’s garage, police said.