Man Who Fathered Four Children with his Daughter Sentenced to Life for Murder, Incest

HARRISONVILLE, Mo. (CBS/AP) A Missouri man who was convicted in April of molesting his daughter for years, fathering four children by her and causing the death of one of those children, was sentenced to life in prison plus 22 years Tuesday.

Danial Rinehart shrugged and shook his head when asked by the judge if he had anything to say to his victim or his family before being sentenced, then stood stone faced as she read her decision on his fate.

"No sentence I can impose will correct or take away the harm you have done," Judge Jacqueline Cook said. "But it will make sure you never do it again."

Rinehart's daughter and victim, Ashley Rinehart, was the first witness called by the prosecution during the trial, and she gave by far the most emotionally charged testimony, detailing the abuse that started when she was just five years old. She told the jury that she had her first child, a daughter who died after just a few months, at age 14, and went on to have three more children with her father, only one of whom is still living, according to CBS affiliate WCTV.

Cass County Prosecutor Teresa Hensley said that Ashley is making a strong recovery from years of abuse.

"I think she has matured into just the most incredible young woman, and I really believe we will see a successful, young woman at this point," Hensley said. "She is truly a survivor."

After sentencing, Danial Rinehart's mother, Delores, said her son has found God, and she believes the man's daughter and his wife shared the blame for what happened - much of it in a trailer parked on the mother's property on the outskirts of Harrisonville.

She claims not to have known about any of the babies.

"[Ashley] was with her daddy constantly," Delores Rinehart told reporters outside the courthouse."To me, if he was bothering her, why didn't she do something about it?"

Delores Rinehart also blamed her son's wife, Linda, saying that if she would have been "the right kind of mother, the right kind of wife, none of this would have happened."

Linda Rinehart, faces a separate trial in August for two counts of child endangerment. Prosecutors allege that she knew about the abuse from the beginning but did nothing to stop it.

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April 20, 2010 - Danial Rinehart, Alleged Child-Killer and Molester, Claims Daughter Wanted to Have Sex With Him