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December 2, 2008 11:06:11 AM CST

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Kerrigan Plotter Dies at Age 40

Posted Dec 16, 07 3:31 PM CST in Crime & Courts,  Sports 

(Newser) – A plotter in the 1994 attack on skater Nancy Kerrigan died this week of natural causes at age 40, the AP reports. Brian Sean Griffith, ex-bodyguard to figure-skating Olympic hopeful Tonya Harding, confessed to helping organize the attack on Kerrigan days after it happened. Griffith served 14 months and later changed his name from Shawn Eckhardt to start a new life.

After prison, Griffith started a short-lived computer company and was sentenced to three years' probation after another assault in 2001. His family had little to say about his life before the attack on Kerrigan. "Shawn Eckhardt died a long time ago," his brother said. "There is no other person than Brian Griffith."

Source Associated Press

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Tonya Harding appears in court. The US figure skater's bodyguard, Brian Sean Griffith, admitted he was part of the plot to attack her Olympic competitor Nancy Kerrigan. Griffith died this week at 40.   (Getty Images)
U.S. figure skaters Tonya Harding, left, and Nancy Kerrigan pose in this Jan.. 9, 1994 file photo during U.S. Figure Skating Championships at Joe Louis arena in Detroit, Mich. Brian Sean Griffith, a former...   (Associated Press)
Nancy Kerrigan at the US Figure Skating Championships. The Olympic skater's hopes were threatened when a clubbing in the knee kept her from 1994 Olympic trials. One of the plotters of the attack, Brian...   (Getty Images)
Tonya Harding appears in court. The US figure skater's bodyguard, Brian Sean Griffith, admitted he was part of the plot to attack her Olympic competitor Nancy Kerrigan. Griffith died this week at 40.   (Getty Images)
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obituary • scandals • Olympic Games • assault • attack • skating • figure skating • Nancy Kerrigan • Tonya Harding


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