Darnell Griffin, now awaiting trial for the 1999 rape and murder of Evelyn Luka, was identified three years before the crime as a dangerous sexual predator whose movements after leaving prison should be restricted by parole authorities, according to court records.

The warning, issued in January 1996 by state sex offender specialist Barry Coyne, virtually predicted the way in which prosecutors now say Griffin met and attacked Luka on Sept. 6, 1999.

Griffin had been convicted in 1980 of murdering another woman. Before Griffin was paroled on March 5, 1996, Coyne recommended that he be subjected to "more intense supervision" than normal, including a 9 p.m. curfew and a warning that if he visited nightclubs in central Honolulu or Waikiki, his parole could be revoked.

Coyne also recommended that Griffin be required to regularly take and pass polygraph tests to make sure he was not violating the terms of his release from prison.

According to records filed in the Luka case, the victim was last seen leaving the Venus Nightclub on Kapi'olani Boulevard around midnight with a man matching Griffin's description in a vehicle matching the one that Griffin drove at the time.

Luka, 20, was found barely alive early the following morning on the side of the H-2 Freeway. Sexually assaulted and strangled, she died the following month of brain injuries when her family removed her from life support.

Coyne declined comment last week on his memo.

Hawai'i Paroling Authority administrator Max Otani said that, despite Coyne's concerns about Griffin, the parolee remained under "intensive supervision" only through December 1996.

That program imposed a 9 p.m. curfew and Griffin was subjected once to a polygraph examination, in November 1996, said Otani.

As of 1997, Griffin was transferred to general parole status, which included an 11 p.m. curfew and instructions not to consume alcohol or visit premises where alcohol is served, Otani said.

There's no indication in court files that parole officials or Honolulu police detectives identified Griffin as a possible suspect in the Luka murder until a DNA sample he provided in 2006 was later matched with evidence collected in 1999.

Griffin was required to supply the DNA under a 2005 state law requiring collection of such samples from all convicted murderers.

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