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Highlands Today

Gainesville stabbing suspect had previous Highlands charge

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By BRAD DICKERSON

Highlands Today

Published: June 4, 2009

GAINESVILLE - A man charged with stabbing two other Gainesville men late Tuesday was previously jailed in the late 1960s on a Highlands County manslaughter conviction.

Kenneth Griffin, 64, allegedly got into an argument with two men after going into a section of the area where they lived. One of the victims was stabbed four times in the torso, while the other was stabbed once in the back, said Sgt. Steve Baker with the Gainesville Police Department. They were both listed in critical condition.

Baker said police had learned Griffin previously served jail time on two previous convictions. The first was for a 1968 Highlands County manslaughter case where he was sentenced to 20 years.

Records from the Florida Department of Corrections show Griffin entered state prison on July 23, 1968. He was paroled six years later, on July 9, 1974.

Then, Griffin was sentenced in 1975 on two counts of second-degree murder in Bradford County. He served more than 30 years of a 65-year sentence starting in 1977.

No other information about Griffin's Highlands County conviction was available at press time.

Staff writer Lise Fisher with The Gainesville Sun contributed to this report. Highlands Today reporter Brad Dickerson can be reached at 863-386-5838.

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