LIMA — A man convicted of violent crimes against his girlfriend, including rape, was given a 51-year-prison sentence Monday.
Brooks Howton, 33, shook his head as the judge sentenced him on each of four charges along with repeat violent offender specifications that were added because Howton has a robbery conviction from 2009.
He plans on appealing the conviction on rape, felonious assault, kidnapping and aggravated burglary, so he did not make a statement. Twenty of the years were for being a repeat violent offender.
Howton and his girlfriend were involved in a serious relationship that included actively having sex, but he refused to leave her house on Aug. 7 after accusing her of cheating on him. He then assaulted, choked and raped her in her own home. He wouldn’t let her leave. She escaped by climbing out a bathroom window.
Assistant Allen County Prosecutor Terri Kohlrieser said Howton was a dangerous man with a history of abusing women, even if his criminal record didn’t reflect it. He hurt his ex-girlfriend so badly her psychological scars will last a long time, she said.
“When you don’t want it and someone is forcing it upon you and that’s the most intimate part of your body, it is humiliating and dehumanizing,” Kohlrieser said.
Kohlrieser said it was clear Howton has something against women, whether from a troubled childhood or another event. She asked for a strong sentencing, saying there was more than just punishment to consider.
“It’s largely about protecting the public,” she said.
Howton’s attorney, Steve Chamberlain, said Howton was “broken from the time he was a child” and argued a lengthy sentencing was inappropriate. He said it would amount to a life sentence, something reserved for the most serious murder cases.
“You’re basically taking a broken man and the actions of a broken man and warehousing him until he dies. The only time he can leave the prison would be in a box. This certainly doesn’t rise to the level of an aggravated murder,” Chamberlain said.
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