Topeka rape victim rips father who raped her as a child; father sentenced Friday

Michael Walter Hines Sr., convicted of raping Topeka child, resentenced to less than half of original 49-year term

Steve Fry  |  Topeka Capital-Journal

Chloe Howey, 26, lashed out at her adoptive father Friday in Shawnee County District Court as she sought the maximum sentence available for him for raping her as a child.

“He was supposed to be my father, not my rapist,” Howey said of defendant Michael Walter Hines Sr. “He was supposed to be my father, not the father of my child.”

She was referring to the child he fathered during the rapes.

Hines — originally sentenced to 48 years and 10 months for the rape of Howey — was resentenced Friday to 23 years and nine months, less than half of his original prison term. Hines’ resentencing was the result of an appellate court decision that reduced the severity of his criminal history.

“Twenty-four years is not enough,” Howey said. “I’m still 26 and I still have to live with this. He has not won, and he never will. Hell has a very special place for you.”

Howey also repeatedly referred to Hines as the “monster” on Friday when she asked District Judge Richard Anderson to resentence him to the maximum term available.

During the nine years since Hines was first sentenced in 2007, Howey held to the belief he would remain in prison for 48 years, and that gave her a sense of security and safety, she told the judge.

“I’m here to ensure that no one forgets the evil that he did,” Howey said.

Howey told Anderson that at times, she was raped every day by Hines. A sister, two years younger, also was sexually assaulted, Howey said.

In an order issued Oct. 29, 2015, the Kansas Court of Appeals remanded the Hines case to Shawnee County District Court for resentencing based on a 2015 ruling by the Kansas Supreme Court in State v. Dickey.

Based on the Dickey decision, Hines’ conviction in district court for a burglary in 1989 must be counted as a nonperson felony rather than a person felony when computing his sentence in the rape conviction.

That means Hines’ criminal history was reduced downward one level on the Kansas sentencing grid, resulting in the shorter sentence.

The Topeka Capital-Journal ordinarily doesn’t identify survivors of sexual assault. However, Howey agreed to be identified and photographed during a news conference with several news outlets.

Hines was sentenced by Anderson in March 2007 to the nearly 49-year prison term. Hines was 37 when he was first sentenced and is now 46.

Hines has 14 years and nine months left on his sentence, but if he earns 15 percent good time, he could be released in about 11 years and two months. That would be roughly in 2027.

The sexual assault resulted in Howey becoming pregnant, and she delivered the baby when she was 14 years old.

Hines pleaded guilty to a count of rape of a child younger than 14 on Feb. 21, 2007.

Hines originally was charged with two counts of rape, an alternative count of aggravated indecent liberties of a child older than 14 and younger than 16, and two counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child. Those charges were dismissed as part of a plea agreement.

After the judge sentenced Hines, including ordering him to pay a $1,000 attorney fee with the $1.05 he is paid daily to work in his prison job, the judge called Hines’ actions “inexcusable,” adding that Hines “severely violated” the trust Howey placed in him.

The judge added that after Hines completes his prison sentence, he might fall under the Kansas Sexual Predator Law, a civil action in which a defendant is locked up.

Anderson recalled that when he first sentenced Hines in 2007, the defendant showed no remorse for his actions, and Hines turned to give those in the public gallery a “very cold look.”

The damage Hines caused will be a “permanent scar” on Howey, the judge said.

Senior assistant district attorney Todd Hiatt, who sought the maximum sentence Friday, praised Howey’s “amazing” effort of “speaking from the heart” when she spoke to the judge.

Hiatt said the district attorney’s cold-case unit has agreed to reopen the Hines case to examine whether other sex offense charges remain to be filed. Charges that were dismissed as part of the 2007 plea agreement can’t be prosecuted, Hiatt said.

Outside the courthouse, defense attorney Joseph Desch said, “This case is incredibly complicated.”

The case occurred during multiple points of time, Desch said, including the crime in 2001, the sentencing in 2007, the Dickey decision in 2015, and the resentencing Friday.