Danial Rinehart received life in prison plus 22 years Monday in Missouri's Cass County Circuit Court on convictions of incest, felony murder, statutory rape and abandonment of a corpse.
A jury found him guilty April 20 in a trial that included his daughter's testimony that he carried on an incestuous relationship with her that began when she was 5 years old and produced four babies.
Only one, a 4-year-old boy, survives.
Authorities found the bodies of two infants in sealed chest-type coolers in a shed on a small farm where the family lived north of Harrisonville. The other baby died in Oklahoma and was buried there, authorities say.
Despite the court's findings, Rinehart's mother stood by her son. Speaking outside the courthouse today, Delores Rinehart put much of the blame on the victim — her granddaughter — who she said "should have spoken up if he was bothering her" and Rinehart's wife for "going to work and leaving those girls alone in the camper."
Her son is not a bad person, Delores Rinehart said outside the courthouse after Monday's hearing.
"He's done wrong, but now he's found the Lord," she said. "I'm proud of him."
Rinehart did not speak at Monday's sentencing. He nodded to his mother as he left the courtroom.
Read more of this story at KansasCity.com
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