Stepfather Gets Life For Rapes
By John S. Hausman, Chronicle Staff Writer
Originally published in the Muskegon Chronicle, September 4, 2001
Walter Neal Jr. will be nearly 80 before his first chance at freedom.
Neal is the Muskegon man who pleaded no contest to repeatedly raping his teen-age stepdaughter, who bore two of his children—including one who died minutes after birth last October in a Muskegon High School bathroom.
Muskegon 14th Circuit Judge James M. Graves Jr. this morning imposed two concurrent sentences on Neal, 44, of 215 Catherine. Neal pleaded in July to two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct with a person between the ages of 13 and 15 years old. The victim was his stepdaughter, Sequita Hall, now 17.
Neal today denied he was father of the two children—"the DNA is wrong"—but said he was sorry he "hurt Sequita."
On count one—scored under state sentencing guidelines in effect before 1999—Graves sentenced Neal to life in prison. That was within the guidelines.
On count two—scored under new guidelines enacted for crimes committed after Jan. 1, 1999—the judge sentenced Neal to serve 35 to 100 years. That exceeded the state guidelines, which recommended a minimum sentence of between 14 1/4 years and 23 3/4 years.
On both counts, Graves gave Neal credit for 282 days already served in jail.
Graves said he exceeded the sentencing guidelines because—as he told Neal in court—"I've been a judge for 25 years, Mr. Neal, and this is the worst I've seen in terms of sexual abuse of a minor … in a home." Especially horrendous, Graves said, was Neal's continued sexual abuse of his minor stepdaughter after the birth of their first child.
"The squalid character of the conduct which the defendant imposed upon his stepdaughter reeks of perversity," Graves said.
"I think the psychological damage to the victim goes right off the charts on this one," the judge said. Graves cited, as evidence of her psychological damage, the then 16-year-old Hall's concealment of her second pregnancy and her leaving the child in the restroom after the baby's death.
The Chronicle normally does not identify victims of sexual assault, but Hall herself was charged with a crime by the county prosecutor in connection with the death of her second child and pleaded guilty.
Hall in March was placed on probation after pleading guilty to concealing the death of the newborn Isaiah Jeremiah Hall and illegally disposing of the child's body in a washroom trash can.
Graves also cited the ongoing, regular nature of the abuse—at least 100 separate acts of sexual intercourse over a period of two years before the victim turned 16, based on her account of sex once or twice a week starting before she turned 14.
"You totally betrayed your responsibilities as a stepfather," Graves said. "You went about as far to the opposite extreme as I can imagine."
Graves also cited Neal's reported threats to kill his stepdaughter if she talked about his abuse of her. The judge called it "terrorism."
Leslie C. Bowen, the Muskegon County Prosecutor's chief trial attorney, in court read aloud excerpts from a letter Hall submitted to the court, dated Aug. 29, as part of Neal's presentence report.
"Walter betrayed me," Hall wrote. "He was supposed to be a father figure to me, but it was totally different."
In support of the "terrorism" aspect, Bowen read aloud this excerpt: "It was hard living in the same house with Walter, not knowing if you're going to live to see the next day."
Outside court after the sentencing, Neal said he did not intend to file any appeal.
A no contest plea is treated the same as a guilty plea at sentencing. His pleas in July were conditional on Neal's reserving the right to appeal an earlier ruling by Graves that would have admitted Neal's confession to police into evidence at trial.
Although Neal declined further comment outside court today, he did make a statement to Graves before his sentencing.
He denied being the father of Hall's two children, contrary to DNA evidence, saying repeatedly, "the DNA is wrong."
However, Neal acknowledged "hurting" Sequita and other family members, saying he had a "sin problem."
"I did hurt Sequita, and I'm very sorry for that," Neal said to Graves. "I hurt my kids … I never intended to do that. But I know I had a sin problem.
"I just pray that God will continue to let me know that, so I won't continue to hurt anybody," Neal said.
A large number of family members and friends were in court for the sentencing.
Several women screamed, sobbed and shouted after Neal as he was led down the courthouse corridor back to jail, one repeatedly yelling, "Baby, turn around!" He didn't.
Another, reportedly a sister of Neal's, collapsed in hysterics on the corridor floor after Neal had been led away, repeatedly sobbing, "my brother, my brother."
At other court proceedings earlier this year, prosecutors said DNA testing confirmed Neal was the father of Hall's two children.
In addition, authorities said Neal admitted repeatedly raping his stepdaughter from about May 1997 until late last year—ongoing sexual abuse that resulted in the births of two children. A daughter was born in 1997. The second child was Isaiah Jeremiah Hall, whose body was found several hours after birth last October in a Muskegon High School restroom.
At the time of Sequita Hall's sentencing, 14th Circuit Family Court Judge John Ruck in a separate ruling also ordered the girl and her 15-year-old brother reunited with their mother, Sarah Neal. She is now divorced from Walter Neal.
Walter Neal has been lodged in the Muskegon County Jail since January, when Graves increased his bond from $50,000 to $500,000 after family members accused him of threatening to kill his family if he were charged with raping his stepdaughter.
Neal also has an earlier record of sexual and physical assault. His first conviction in a sex case was in 1976, when he repeatedly raped a 13-year-old over a period of four months, according to court records.
Neal, who was then 18, had sex with that girl from July 4 to Nov. 1, 1975, according to court testimony. Under Michigan law, any adult who has sex with a person younger than 16 is commiting statutory rape.
In the 1975 case, Neal was originally charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct. The charge was reduced to accosting and soliciting a minor for immoral purposes, a misdemeanor with a maximum sentence of one year. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 34 days in the county jail.
Also in 1976, Neal signed a statement admitting to injuring his 14-month-old son by another young woman. He pleaded guilty to "unlawfully and cruelly punishing a child" and was sentenced to 18 months' probation.
In more recent years, in 1992 the Family Independence Agency found he abused a child in his care, according to a petition filed in 14th Circuit Court. Again in 1995, the FIA found he abused a child in his care.
He spent 29 days in jail in 1995 for domestic violence, according to Muskegon County Jail records.
In all, Graves said in court today, Neal has 10 prior convictions.
They include accosting, aggravated assault, assault and battery, two counts of domestic violence, two counts of marijuana possession, one of larceny under $100, one of welfare fraud under $500, and one of vandalism causing less than $100 damage.
