A 49-year-old man was convicted of possessing child pornography Tuesday, but jurors deadlocked on charges that he secretly photographed and molested two underage girls he lived with in Laguna Niguel while they were nude or partially clothed.
Travis Scott Griffith was convicted of a felony count of possessing child pornography, but jurors, who began deliberations Thursday and continued through Monday and Tuesday, deadlocked on two felony counts of lewd or lascivious acts with a minor younger than 14 as well as two misdemeanor counts of using a concealed recording device to record someone without their consent.
The jurors deadlocked 7-5 on the felony counts and 8-4 on the misdemeanor counts, but it was unclear which way the panel leaned.
Griffith, who was out on bail, was ordered taken into custody by Orange County Superior Court Judge Kevin Haskins, who scheduled May 29 for a hearing on sentencing and a retrial.
Griffith testified on his own behalf, which allowed Deputy District Attorney Kelcie Anne Wiemann to question him about more evidence of child pornography on his devices. Before the trial, Griffith accepted a stipulation that he had downloaded three child pornography images on his phone.
Griffith said he was viewing legal pornography on Tumblr when he accidentally clicked a link that downloaded the illegal images.
“Getting them was an accident,” he testified, and characterized one of the images of an 11- to 14-year-old girl as “horrendous.”
Griffith testified that after learning his wife was involved with another man, he began viewing online pornography. When questioned by authorities about the child pornography, he denied possessing any “out of fear,” he said.
Griffith said he took the photos to get his wife’s attention.
Wiemann argued that the images of one of the relatives are provocative and sexual.
“He’s holding her leg up,” Wiemann argued.
Pointing to one of the images, the prosecutor said, “A window into his mind is right here.”
Wiemann argued that Griffith admitted to a psychiatric expert that he is sexually attracted to “younger teens 13 to 14 years old … When I asked him did he make that statement, he lied. He blatantly lied.”
One of the girls he is accused of molesting was 14 and the other was 12, Wiemann said.
The prosecutor showed jurors photos the defendant allegedly took of the girls while they were nude or in their underwear. Both of the accusers said they did not know the photographs were being taken at the time, Wiemann said.
An investigator testified that he found 20 images of girls 10 to 15 years old engaging in or simulating sex acts on the defendant’s device, Wiemann said.
The prosecutor also rejected the argument that Griffith was giving one of the girls a normal massage.
“You don’t need a camera to massage someone,” she said. “The reason he was touching her and photographing — it was for his own sexual gratification.”
Griffith testified that he used a bed for the massage because there was no room for a massage table in the home.
The defendant said he had “zero” sexual attraction to the girl.
“This case is about a dysfunctional relationship between two adults, not a case of child molestation,” defense attorney Elizabeth Khan of the Orange County Public Defender’s Office argued.
Everything Griffith did were “acts directed at” his wife,” Khan said.
“The issue in this case is what was going on in Travis’ mind?” Khan said. “The only issue is Travis’ intent.”
Griffith only touched the girl on the thigh and hip as part of a massage, Khan said.
“The evidence clearly shows it’s all about making (his wife) jealous, making her angry,” Khan said.
The defendant was “emotionally distraught” about his wife’s infidelity, Khan said.
Griffith viewed legal porn as a way to “de-stress,” Khan argued. The child porn download was “inadvertent” and unintentional, Khan argued.
Griffith loved the girls he knew since they were 6 and 8 years old, she added.
“He was adamant,” she said. “He did not touch them with sexual intent.”
In 2019, his wife began an “emotional affair” with a man she met on a business trip to Dallas, Khan said. She told her spouse that “the world stopped when she met him,” Khan said.
An ex-girlfriend of Griffith’s testified in the trial that after they broke up and remained platonic friends, he became a caretaker for her when she fell ill, Khan said. Griffith lived with her and the friend’s teen daughters and she trusted the defendant with them, Khan said.
Khan also argued that the forensic psychologist, Jennifer Bosch, had concluded Griffith was not a sexual deviant.
The defendant’s attraction to adolescent girls and adult women does not suggest deviancy in clinical terms, Khan argued. She said Bosch concluded that it was “normal” for heterosexual men.
“He was honest about it and that he would never act on it,” Khan said.