Michael Frederick Griffin

Case name

Michael Frederick Griffin

Timeline

• March 4, 1994 — A jury found Michael Frederick Griffin guilty and he was sentenced to life in prison.
• March 5, 1993 — Griffin pulled into a Pensacola Exxon station and met David Gunn.
• March 10, 1993 — Michael Frederick Griffin murdered Dr. David Gunn in Pensacola, Florida.
• March 11, 1993 — A doctor, David Gunn, was shot to death outside his abortion clinic in Pensacola, Florida.
• March 12, 1994 — Paul Hill walked to a pay phone and called to appear on “Donahue” within 20 minutes.
• March 15, 1994 — Paul Hill appeared on “Donahue” with an abortion doctor, two abortion rights activists, and David Gunn’s son.
• June 10, 1994 — Paul Hill tested the federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) law outside The Ladies Center of Pensacola.
• mid-July 1994 — Paul Hill attended a three-day seminar in Kansas City on how to become a full-time anti-abortion activist.
• July 29, 1994 — Paul Hill arrived at the clinic and shot abortion doctor John Bayard Britton and James Barrett.

Background

Michael Frederick Griffin was born September 11, 1961. He was a Christian terrorist who murdered Dr. David Gunn in Pensacola, Florida on March 11, 1993.

Griffin was described as being associated with the Army of God and Rescue America. During the events leading up to the murder, he was also described as a zealous follower of local anti-abortion reader John Burt.

The killing of Dr. David Gunn was described as the first killing of an OB-GYN who performed abortions and the first documented killing of an OB-GYN for performing abortions. The killing was also described as inspiring the federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act.

The offence

Griffin waited outside Gunn’s clinic and shot him three times in the back. The reporting described that Griffin stepped forward from a group of antiabortion protesters and opened fire. David Gunn died during surgery at a local hospital after being shot three times in the back after he got out of his car at the Pensacola Women’s Medical Services clinic.

Griffin was described as dressed in a gray suit and as quietly surrendering to police. The reporting described that Griffin had singled out the physician as his target and had chased him and shot him at point-blank range.

A quote attributed to Don Treshman, head of the antiabortion group Rescue America in Houston, said that Griffin yelled “Don’t kill any more babies,” just before the shooting. Another report described that Griffin reportedly yelled “Don’t kill any more babies,” just before the shooting.

One report described that Griffin told police: “I've just shot Dr. Gunn.” Another report described that Griffin told police: “We need an ambulance.”

Investigation and arrest

Police initially were called to simply squelch an antiabortion protest at the clinic. When police arrived, they said Griffin told them he had just shot Gunn. Griffin surrendered to police, and they took his .38-caliber snub-nosed revolver.

Griffin was arrested and charged with murder and held in Escambia County jail.

Trial

A jury found Griffin guilty. The jury deliberated for three hours before finding him guilty on March 4, 1994.

During Griffin’s trial, his defense attorneys argued that activist John Burt “brainwashed” Griffin and drove him to commit murder.

A jury finding of guilt was followed by sentencing.

Sentencing

Griffin was sentenced to life in prison on March 4, 1994. He was currently serving in Okaloosa Correctional Institution in Crestview, Florida.

Appeals

No appeal information was provided in the supplied material.

Other people mentioned

Victim

Dr. David Gunn was 47. He was shot three times in the back after he got out of his car at the Pensacola Women’s Medical Services clinic and died during surgery at a local hospital.

Griffin’s alleged associate and defence argument

John Burt was described as the Northwest Florida regional director of the national pro-life group Rescue America during Griffin’s trial. Burt was described as a retired U.S. Marine and as a former member of the Ku Klux Klan, while he claimed he had “abandoned the group's racist doctrine when he became a born-again Christian.” Burt was described as a self-professed “spiritual adviser” to a group of activists who bombed three abortion clinics in 1984.

During the service attended by protest organizers and participants, John Burt said:

“He asked that the congregation pray, and asked that we would agree with him that Dr. Gunn would give his life to Jesus Christ,” Burt told reporters. “He wanted him to stop doing things the Bible says is wrong and start doing what the Bible says was right,” Burt told reporters.

Witnesses, organizers, and quoted individuals

Don Treshman, head of the antiabortion group Rescue America in Houston, said that Griffin yelled “Don’t kill any more babies,” just before the shooting.

Steve Powell, an employee at an office park where the clinic is located, told reporters that Griffin singled out the physician as his target, chased him and shot him at point-blank range. Powell said:

“It looked like they were just happy,”

Paul Hill was described as excited by Griffin’s actions and as appearing on “Donahue” after a call from a pay phone within 20 minutes.

Paul Hill was quoted during the “Donahue” appearance as proclaiming that the murder of David Gunn was “as good as Doctor Mengele being killed.”

When discussing the FACE law, the clinic director Linda Taggart attempted to perform a sonogram as Hill screamed during the test.

In response to possible arrest and the desired charge, the material reported that Pensacola police told Taggart she could have Hill arrested for violating the local noise ordinance, but she wanted him charged with violating the new FACE law instead.

The material quoted a U.S. Attorney General:

• Attorney General Janet Reno was mentioned as being prodded into creating a Justice Department task force to investigate whether there was a nationwide conspiracy behind the violence.

The material quoted Supreme Court context, describing that the Supreme Court ruled in January that federal judges could not stop protesters from trying to block access to clinics.

Other quoted statements included the following:

• National Abortion Rights Action League President Kate Michelman said in a statement after the shooting: “We call on Congress to immediately enact the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances bill to combat antichoice terrorism and enact the Freedom of Choice Act to guarantee American women their legal right to choose,”
• Keith Tucci, executive director of Operation Rescue, said in a news release expressing sorrow over Gunn’s death: “Our commitment to the dignity of life stands for the born as well as the unborn,”
• The Rev. Joseph Foreman said: “I've been saying for years that if the government insists on suppressing normal and time-honored dissent through injunctions, it turns the field over to the rock-throwers, the bombers and the assassins,” AP quoted Foreman as saying.

Cheryl Glenn and John O’Keefe

Cheryl Glenn, an ATF special agent in Portland, Ore., and lead investigator in the Shannon case, was quoted as saying:

“Unless there's specific knowledge that someone's going to commit a crime, you don't have a criminal conspiracy,”

John O'Keefe was quoted as saying:

“The direction of the movement?” O'Keefe wonders aloud. “I think it is a disaster.”

Additional context and related events included in the material

The material described that before Gunn arrived at the Pensacola clinic, there was only one clinic performing abortions in Pensacola, and that there were at least three facilities that offered “abortion counseling” to women.

The material described that abortion providers were routinely threatened with death and that their clinics had been bombed and vandalized.

The material described that protesters held up signs that said, “David Gunn Kills Babies.”

The material described death threats against Gunn for several years, which became more blatant and vicious, citing Susan Hill, who employed the doctor at some of the National Women’s Health Organization clinics she ran in the Southeast; the Pensacola facility was not one of hers.

The material described an “old-fashioned wanted poster” of Gunn being distributed at a rally for Operation Rescue leader Randall Terry in Montgomery, Ala. It said the poster included a picture of Gunn, his home phone number and other identifying information. It said the posters were designed to encourage abortion opponents to harass doctors working at clinics operated by Gunn in Alabama. Margeaux Farrar, a spokeswoman for Operation Rescue, said the antiabortion organization knew nothing about the posters and had not printed them.

The material described Congress considering legislation that would outlaw the protests.

The material provided additional narrative about Griffin’s meeting and claimed religious motivation:

• On the morning of March 5, 1993, Griffin was described as pulling into a Pensacola Exxon station and meeting Gunn, who was described as sitting in his car drinking coffee and reading a newspaper before heading to work at The Ladies Center.
• Griffin’s reported statements included:

  “I thought it was Providence,” “I knew he was getting ready to go kill children that day. I asked the Lord what he wanted me to do. And he told me to tell him that he had one more chance. ”

• The report described Griffin walking over to Gunn’s car and tapping on the window, then Griffin saying:

  “David Gunn, the Lord told me to tell you that you have one more chance.”

• The report described Griffin recalling that for five hours he stood outside The Ladies Center waiting for Gunn to leave, and he was described as recalling a sentence tied to Genesis 9:6:

  “I felt like I had another word from the Lord for him: that he was accused and convicted of murder and that his sentence was Genesis 9:6 'Whosoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed.'”

• The report described Griffin saying, right before Gunn got in his car:

  “David Gunn, are you going to kill children next week?”

• The report described that Gunn replied by saying:

  “Yeah. Probably.”

• The material later stated that five days later Griffin fired three .38-caliber bullets into Gunn’s back as Gunn got out of his car in the parking lot behind the offices of the city’s other abortion clinic, Pensacola Women’s Medical Services.

The material also included narrative describing the influence of Gunn’s murder on anti-abortion violence and subsequent events involving Paul Hill, including the claim that Hill put the new legislation to a test outside The Ladies Center of Pensacola and later shot John Bayard Britton and James Barrett on July 29, 1994. The material quoted Hill in multiple places regarding his actions, including:

“Mommy, Mommy, don't murder me.” and “I was thinking about who might take action next,” “And then I began to think, 'Well, what would happen if I did it?' And the more I thought about it, it seemed like a reasonable thing to do.” and “I decided that I was going to do it.” and: “They pulled in past me, and I stepped over to where the gun was in the grass, which put the fence between me and them. Then I picked up the weapon and stepped out from behind the fence and fired three times directly at the truck. I aimed directly at the abortionist, but the driver was directly between me and him, so their heads were almost blocking one another.” and: “I fired directly into him, five rounds, and then laid the shotgun down and walked away, slowly, with my hands down to my side,” and: “and so the abortionist was unprotected,” and: “And so I realized that if I was going to have any assurance of killing the abortionist, I was probably going to have to kill him, too.” and: “I wasn't going to turn aside from my intent to save those children from them.”

Places

• Pensacola, Florida
• Pensacola Women’s Medical Services clinic
• The Ladies Center, Pensacola
• Okaloosa Correctional Institution, Crestview, Florida
• Escambia County jail
• Houston (mentioned in relation to Rescue America head Don Treshman)
• Eufaula, Ala. (mentioned in relation to commuting to Pensacola)
• Montgomery, Ala. (mentioned in relation to the rally for Randall Terry)
• Wichita, Kansas (mentioned in relation to an attempted murder by Shelley Shannon)
• Kansas City (mentioned in relation to a seminar)
• Portland, Ore. (mentioned in relation to Cheryl Glenn)

Notes on duplicated content artifacts

Run-on joins, repeated fragments, and navigation labels were removed so that each distinct fact and each verbatim quotation appeared once in a clean, readable structure.