First occurred in Concord, second in Martinez both in 2022 while on parole for previous rape, assault conviction; 44-year-old has history of 15 arrests since 2019
– See link to his mugshot
WARNING: Contains graphic content
By Ted Asregadoo, PIO, Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office
Martinez, California – A Richmond man who cut off his parole ankle monitor and then violently assaulted two women in 2022 has been sentenced to 169 years to life in state prison.
Contra Costa County Superior Court Judge John W. Kennedy sentenced Mark Lewis Hinton, 44, on October 2nd to 150 years to life on the rape counts, plus a 19-year determinate term. A jury convicted Hinton of 11 felony counts on September 5th, 2025. Sentencing was delayed for more than a year after Hinton hired new defense counsel.
Two counts did not result in convictions:
Count 5 (PC 273.5(a)) was dismissed during the trial.
Count 11 (PC 207) ended in a hung jury and was then dismissed.
Hinton was convicted on the remaining 11 counts.
At the time of the assaults, Hinton was on state parole for a 2011 Contra Costa County conviction for forcible rape, sodomy and oral copulation, for which he had received a 12-year prison sentence.
The first assault: September 2022
In early September 2022, Hinton cut off his ankle monitor and went to a Concord motel where a woman he knew casually was staying with acquaintances. Armed with knives, he struck her, forced her into a different room and sexually assaulted her while strangling and beating her. He then threatened to kill her if she told anyone. When police arrived, she was too frightened to tell them about the sexual assault. She later came forward to Concord police and the District Attorney’s Office.
For that attack, the jury convicted Hinton of kidnapping to commit rape, forcible rape, forcible oral copulation, forcible sodomy and assault by means likely to produce great bodily injury.
Note: The Concord Police Department’s Crime Map does not include incidents prior to 2023.
The Martinez Police Department’s CitizenRIMS Crime Map shows the location and details of the rape on December 30, 2022. Screenshot
The second assault: December 2022
Three months later, Hinton began what the second woman, who was experiencing homelessness, believed was a dating relationship. Within weeks he was beating her. One blow fractured the bone around her eye, and he told her to tell hospital staff she had been in a car accident. Witnesses testified she was terrified of him.
On December 29th, she escaped to her car and called 911, but Hinton forced her back inside while she was still on the line. The next day, armed with a knife, he threatened and sexually assaulted her. She fled to a nearby store, where employees called 911, and Hinton was arrested in Martinez that day.
For those attacks, Hinton was convicted of forcible rape, forcible oral copulation, domestic violence causing great bodily injury, criminal threats with a knife, assault by means likely to produce great bodily injury and false imprisonment.
The Martinez PD CitizenRIMS Crime Map shows:
Rape By Force/fear/etc (F)
Crime: 261(A)(2) PC, 211 PC, 417(A)(1) PC
Crime Type: Rape
Crime Classification: Felony
Address: 600 Block Of J Street
City: Martinez
Occurred: 12/30/2022 at 1:53 PM
Case Number: 22-2563
Incident Number: 2212300038
At trial
The woman Hinton sexually assaulted in 2008 also testified, describing the attack that led to his 2011 conviction. In closing arguments, Deputy District Attorney Danielle Brown told jurors the second woman “said she’s lucky to be alive. She realized that he was going to kill her at some point.” Brown added, “He needs his victims to feel scared so that he can feel powerful.”
“These women showed extraordinary courage in facing the person who abused them and telling a jury what he did,” said Contra Costa District Attorney Diana Becton. “Domestic violence cases are difficult to prosecute because abusers often isolate and intimidate their victims and choose people they believe won’t be heard. These survivors proved him wrong.”
See 01-23-00045 – Amended Information Filed
Domestic Violence Awareness Month
October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and this year’s national theme, With Survivors, Always, calls for moving from awareness to action in support of survivors’ safety, support and solidarity.
Anyone in Contra Costa County experiencing domestic violence can call the STAND! For Families Free of Violence 24-hour crisis line at 888-215-5555, or the District Attorney’s Victim Witness Assistance Program at (925) 957-8650 (Martinez) or 510-374-3272 (Richmond). In an emergency, call 911.
The case was investigated by the Martinez and Concord police departments.
Case No. 01-23-00045 | The People of the State of California v. Mark Lewis Hinton
According to the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office, the five-foot, 11-inch tall, 200-pound Hinton was born on Feb. 19, 1982, is listed as Non-Hispanic but also listed as Black, was arrested by the Contra Costa Sheriff’s Deputies out of county on Feb. 4, 2025, and is currently being held in the Martinez Detention Facility. For the charge of 3000.08 PC F, the case number and court docket are FCR364634 / FCR364634/SOLANO. For the charges of 978.5 PC F, 10851(A) VC F, the case number and court docket are VCR240038 / VCR240038/SOLANO.
In addition, the Sheriff’s Office offered additional information about a cleared case against Hinton:
Case Number/Court Docket: 25-108 / 01-25-00462
Charges: 209(B)(1) PC F – aggravated kidnapping to commit robbery or certain sexual offenses, punishable by life imprisonment in state prison; 286(C)(2)(A) PC F – sodomy against the victim’s will by means of force, violence, duress, menace, or fear of immediate and unlawful bodily injury on the victim or another person shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for three, six, or eight years; 273.5(A) PC F – willfully inflicting corporal injury resulting in a traumatic condition upon a victim is guilty of a felony, and shall be punished by imprisonment in state prison for two, three, or four years, or in a county jail for not more than one year, or by a fine of up to $6,000, or by both that fine and imprisonment; 261(A)(2) PC F – rape; and 287(C)(2)(A) PC F – oral copulation accomplished against the victim’s will by means of force, violence, duress, menace, or fear of immediate and unlawful bodily injury on the victim or another person shall be punished by imprisonment in state prison for three, six, or eight years.
Cleared Date – 6/10/2025 1:28:00 PM.
After work hours on Friday, both Asregadoo and Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Jimmy Lee were asked where Hinton was arrested. They were also asked for the suspect’s mugshot which appears on the VineLink website.
According to localcrimenews.com, Hinton is Black and has a history of 14 other arrests since October 2019 by multiple agencies in Contra Costa and Solano counties on drugs and gun charges, vehicle theft and more.
Please check back later for any updates.
Allen D. Payton contributed to this report.
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