Rinehart sentenced to one year, 70 days

A circuit court judge sentenced Robert W. Rinehart to a year and 70 days prison time and four years probation Nov. 18.

The court convicted Rinehart, 51, of Wrangell, in September on two counts of Class C Felony Assault by threat of death or injury, and a single count of Class B Misdemeanor Criminal Mischief, and a single count of Class A Misdemeanor 4th degree reckless injury. Rinehart admitted two counts of Class B Misdemeanor parole violations. The jury dismissed an additional reckless injury count, according to sentencing documents.

Rinehart received two years each for the felonies, but Superior Court Judge Kevin Miller suspended a year and a half for each of those counts at the sentencing, leaving a year prison time. Rinehart received 10 unsuspended days for the criminal mischief count, 20 unsuspended days for each parole violation, and 20 unsuspended days for the reckless injury count. Rinehart has already spent several months in jail awaiting first trial and sentencing, which will be credited against his sentence, court officials said.

Rinehart will also have his previous probation on a modified charge of criminal mischief revoked, adding an additional 10 days to his sentence, according to sentencing documents.

Rinehart's probation terms included seven special conditions including avoiding contact with his victims, undergoing a mental health assessment, and residing in a place with both a state-approved batterer's program and a resident corrections officer, precluding continued residency in Wrangell during his probation.

The judge also sealed letters written on behalf of Rinehart by family members and correspondence from the victims.

Prosecuting attorney Anne Seaton asked the judge for a weightier sentence.

"In this situation, we have two primary goals and they are very much related," she said. "From the state's perspective, the primary goal is the protection of the victims in this case, and that has to go along with Mr. Rinehart's rehabilitation, and those two goals are intertwined."

Seaton noted that Rinehart did not have an extensive criminal history. If he had, she said it might have led her to ask for an even stiffer sentence. However, the pattern of evidence presented at the trial was troubling, Seaton said.

"He does have a history of very abusive behavior" toward the victims, Seaton added. "It appeared to be escalating in that last case."

A pre-trial mental health assessment might have induced the prosecution to ask for a less weighty sentence, but none was conducted, Seaton said.

"It just seems like the court would need some more information about his mental health status in order to fashion the most appropriate sentence," she said. "In the absence of that, what I'd ask is that the court does require Mr. Rinehart to undergo a very thorough psychiatric examination."

Rinehart had voluntarily undergone two periods of past treatment at Bartlett Regional Hospital's Mental Health Unit in Juneau, court officials and family members said.

Rinehart also made threatening remarks not just to his victims, but against a local school, Seaton said.

The remarks were threatening not only to the victims, "but also the entire community," Seaton said.

Rinehart disputed that he'd ever threatened the school.

"I would like to state I have never threatened anyone at the school," he said. "I have never made that statement. I would like to decry those statements against myself. I made a few bad words, but I have never, never threatened to hurt anyone at that school."

As a result, Seaton asked for a total of a year unsuspended for each of the felonies, unsuspended time for the misdemeanor counts, and six years probation.

"These were very serious ... offenses," Seaton said.

Rinehart's didn't pose a threat to the larger community, relatives told Miller.

"What I'd like to say to the court is that my brother Robert is one of the kindest people that I know," said Jessie Archibald, Rinehart's

sister. "He has always treated my children with warmth and caring. I know the family did travel to Juneau quite a bit and we did what we could to help them out."

"He has support in Juneau," she added. "If the court would release Rob, he is absolutely welcome in our home. My brother is absolutely the kindest person that I know. I ask that you let him out, time served."

The state's argument

amounted to isolation, said defense attorney Kirsten Swanson. Miller ought to focus instead on rehabilitation, Swanson said.

"We should be looking at rehabilitation first and

foremost," she said. "Isolation? It sounded almost as if the

government was arguing for isolation. I would argue that that is not applicable. He's not a worse offender, he's not someone with a worse criminal

history. This isn't somebody who needs to be locked up forever or for a long time."

Swanson also objected to specific conditions of the probation, particularly the

registration of automobiles, and said an anger management course would better suit Rinehart than a batterer's course.

She asked Miller to impose a sentence based on suspended time, and asked for three years probation.

Prior to delivering his sentence, Miller acknowledged Rinehart's lack of serious criminal history, and the defense's concerns about isolation, but said the lack of a court-ordered mental assessment made issuing a more lenient sentence difficult.

"You don't have much of a prior criminal history," he said. "That indicates to me and what it should tell me is that there are some prospects for rehabilitation. I don't have anything in terms of mental health evaluation. To a certain extent, I'm engaging in something of a guessing game. My primary goal is to preclude absolutely contact between Mr. Rinehart and the victims. Unfortunately in Alaska, mental health people that commit criminal offenses ... we wind up warehousing them in institutional and correctional facilities, and that's wrong, but if they pose a threat to the community, we don't have a choice."

While threats weren't the equal of a physical assault, they were still serious, Miller added.

"As far as the felony offenses, your attorney's correct, they are verbal threats," he said. "But sometimes verbal threats are the worst kind because they place someone in fear, and fear is something that is very difficult and very hard for people to deal with because they just don't know what's going to happen and when."