— Misti Drew/Tribune-Courier || Twelve Marshall County jurors heard testimony in the case of Commonwealth vs. Mark Vincent Rapone last week. They returned a guilty verdict and a prison sentence of life.

Marshall County jury sentences child rapist to life in prison

Rapone will not
be eligible for
parole for 25 years


By Misti Drew
Tribune-Courier News Editor
mdrew@tribunecourier.com

BENTON – Twelve Marshall County jurors are now the first in Kentucky’s history to have handed down a life sentence without the possibility of parole for 25 years for the first-degree rape of a four-year-old child.

Fifty one year-old Mark Vincent Rapone was accused of raping a local girl in April of last year.

As allegations of the incident surfaced, Rapone fled to Pennsylvania where United States Marshals tracked him down. He was extradited back to Marshall County a short time later.

Local jurors heard the case in Marshall County’s Circuit Court last week. Judge Dennis Foust presided.

According to court testimony and lead detective Matt Hilbrecht, Rapone had been staying with the child’s grandmother whom he had met on the internet in a chat room.

The two had a falling out and after being asked to leave, Rapone began staying with the child’s mother. It was there he came in contact with the victim.

On April 27, 2008, prosecutors say Rapone had been left alone to watch the victim and her then, six year-old brother.

In what the prosecution called a planned attack on his “target,” Rapone locked the door and fastened the chain lock to the residence, while the little boy played outside, unattended.

According to State Commonwealth prosecutor Todd Lewis, Rapone and the child were home alone in her mother’s room when the rape occurred.

The victim described the incident in vivid detail for the jury via closed circuit television and previously recorded audio and video. She also told of how her cousin knocked on the front door, interrupting Rapone’s act.

Rapone’s account differed than that of the child’s.

In a statement made to authorities following his extradition, Rapone said the girl “came on” to him and expressed a desire to have “sexual relations” with him.

Rapone stated he was attempting to “teach the girl a lesson” by exposing himself and touching her. He denied raping the child.

Upon reading the defendant’s statement in court, Lewis told jury members Rapone was a “liar,” calling him a “predator” and “monster.”

Sitting in his seat, Rapone shifted and adjusted his black-rimmed glasses often. He wiped his face and sighed deeply from time to time as Lewis continued.

“First he (Rapone) told detectives he never touched her. Then he told them she came on to him.”

Lewis suggested Rapone’s confessions were nothing more than an attempt to avoid admitting anything other than what he had to.

As detectives divulged more information compromising Rapone’s accounts of the incident, Lewis said Rapone continued to change his story.

“When he found out they had DNA, he admitted he touched her. He said he used his fingers to apply medical cream,” Lewis said to the court. “He had to say that, because he didn’t know where the DNA was.”

Lewis said as Rapone’s story unraveled, he continued to weave a web of deceit. He described the defendant’s “breaking point” at which Rapone confessed to everything but rape.

“It’s like he got himself a law book,” Lewis suggested to jurors. “He knew exactly what to say to avoid jail time—that’s what the criminal mind does.”

Ten witnesses were called by the prosecution, including the pediatric physician who examined the child. She concluded sexual abuse had occurred and documented the child’s internal injuries.

The defense did not call any witnesses and Rapone did not testify.

Rapone’s attorney James Burkeen, gave a closing statement on Friday.

“He’s not guilty and they cannot prove he is beyond a shadow of a doubt,” Burkeen insisted. “This is a very serious matter,” he continued. “Your decision today will have a lifelong affect on this man’s life.”

Burkeen challenged the state’s evidence saying Rapone’s confession was simply a result of the detective’s coercion. “He (Rapone) had been up 12 to 14 hours during extradition and under a lot of stress.

“They were relentless,” Burkeen told jurors. “They would have gone all night long. So, he broke, and that looks like a confession.”

Burkeen asked jurors to consider that while his, and each of the juror’s lives would go back to normal following the hearing, their decision would affect Rapone for the rest of his life.

After four days of witness testimony and evidentiary findings, the jury took two hours to find Rapone guilty of first-degree rape.

Prior to sentencing, the jury was advised of Rapone’s criminal history, which included two robberies and six parole and probation violations.

Hilbrecht said he felt that was a determining factor in why the jury handed down the harshest sentence possible. Life with no possibility of parole for 25 years. Rapone will be 76 before he is eligible for parole.

This sentence is the first of its kind to be handed down since the state gave juries the option to add an additional five years to sentences for those having prior felony convictions.

Of the outcome and more than a year and a half’s time invested in the case, Hilbrecht said, “I am very happy it turned out the way it did. Lewis did an amazing job, I have never seen a stronger closing argument.

“But the real thanks goes to those jurors who took the initiative to stand up for that little girl. Now she will have the chance to be a kid and grow up just like everyone else without being in fear.” Final sentencing is set for Feb, 15, 2010, at 10 a.m. in Marshall Circuit Court.