Bail for Seattle Lawyer Charged with Raping Massage Therapists Lowered to $1M
Bail for Danford Grant, a Seattle lawyer accused of raping massage therapists, was lowered from $3 million to $1 million Thursday.
According to the Seattle Times, the King County prosecuting attorney’s office initially alleged that the charges involved three massage therapists. This morning they added a fourth person who they say Grant raped. He now faces seven felony counts, including four first-degree rape charges.
Grant has pleaded not guilty to the charges, and today sought to have bail set at $250,000, the Times reports. He’s been held since Sept. 26. Previously, Grant’s lawyer suggested his client was wrongly targeted.
According to charging documents (PDF), Grant was arrested after raping a woman at knifepoint. All of the women are reportedly Asian and employed as massage therapists, and only one speaks fluent English, according to prosecutors. The charging documents suggest the police have DNA evidence linking Grant to some of the women, the Seattle Times reported at the time.
Grant previously defended employment litigation cases with the Seattle city attorney’s office, according to MyNorthwest.com. When arrested in September, the Seattle Times reported, Grant was a partner with Bailey Grant Onsager. The firm is now known as Bailey Onsager and doesn’t list Grant. A different website, Danfordgrant.com, lists Grant as a Bailey Grant Onsager partner.
In court filings, according to the Seattle Times, Grant wrote that he needed to be released to defend the charges against him, spend time with his family, and “meet obligations to my business.”
Richard Hansen, Grant’s lawyer, hopes his client will be released next week.
