A Contra Costa County judge has sentenced a Richmond man to 169 years to life in state prison for violently assaulting two women in 2022 while he was on parole for an earlier rape, the county District Attorney's Office announced Friday.
Superior Court Judge John W. Kennedy sentenced Mark Lewis Hinton, 44, on Oct. 2. The term is 150 years to life on the rape counts plus a fixed 19 years. A jury convicted Hinton of 11 felony counts on Sept. 5, 2025, but sentencing was pushed back more than a year after he hired a new defense lawyer, according to prosecutors.
Two attacks, months apart
Prosecutors said that in September 2022 Hinton cut off his parole ankle monitor and went to a Concord motel where a woman he knew casually was staying. Armed with knives, he hit her, forced her into another room and sexually assaulted her while choking and beating her, then threatened to kill her if she told anyone. She was too scared to report the assault when police first arrived, but later came forward to Concord police and the DA's office.
About three months later, Hinton began what a second woman, who was homeless at the time, believed was a dating relationship. Within weeks he was beating her, prosecutors said. One blow broke the bone around her eye, and he told her to tell hospital staff she had been in a car accident.
On Dec. 29, 2022, she got to her car and called 911, but Hinton forced her back inside while she was still on the line. The next day he threatened her with a knife and sexually assaulted her. She escaped to a nearby store, where employees called 911, and Hinton was arrested in Martinez later that day.
The convictions
For the motel attack, the jury convicted Hinton of kidnapping to commit rape, forcible rape, forcible oral copulation, forcible sodomy and assault likely to cause great bodily injury. For the second case, he was convicted of forcible rape, forcible oral copulation, domestic violence causing great bodily injury, criminal threats with a knife, assault and false imprisonment.
At the time, Hinton was on state parole after serving a 12-year sentence for an earlier Contra Costa County conviction for forcible rape and other sex crimes.
Where to get help
People in Contra Costa County facing domestic violence can call the STAND! For Families Free of Violence 24-hour crisis line at 888-215-5555, or the DA's Victim Witness Assistance Program at 925-957-8650 or 510-374-3272.