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Kevin Manning, 34, appeared in court to hear his fate after entering a guilty plea for the felony sex offense and nine other counts, including witness intimidation, electronic communication harassment and violation of a protective order. Those nine counts were levied for actions he took against his daughter’s mother after the Sept. 2024 assault of the daughter.

Talbot County Circuit Court Judge Phil Cronan handed down the 18-year sentence — a term exceeding the recommended five- to 13-year range — for what he called a “vicious and heinous� crime.

Before Cronan delivered the sentence, Deputy State’s Attorney Chelsea Endzel asked the court for a 30-year sentence.

Endzel cited Manning’s past sex assault convictions: a fourth-degree sex offense in Anne Arundel County in 2016 and a dismissed second-degree rape in Talbot County in 2022 stemming from a 2009 incident involving Manning and an underage female living with him at the time.

The rape conviction was dismissed in 2023 after it was determined that the judge who postponed Manning’s trial date was not designated to do so.

Endzel argued for the extended sentence, in part, due to Manning’s “repeated harassment� of the child’s mother, Emily Hiester, beginning last September. Endzel wrote in a memo to the court that Manning contacted Hiester nearly 200 times through emails and phone calls, violating a protective order.

Endzel read a written impact statement from Hiester, in which the mother said she couldn’t bear to be in a courtroom with Manning. Hiester wrote that she has secluded herself from others and that she “can see the pain� in her daughter’s eyes.

“I can’t see others the same when someone I thought I knew I could trust did something so horrible,� a portion of the statement read.

Hiester asked for Manning’s sentence to be “as much time as the court will allow.�

Endzel also argued that an open District Court case in which Manning is accused of assaulting an inmate at the Talbot County Detention Center factors into the danger he poses to society. The alleged assault occurred May 24.

“The question is not whether he will reoffend, but when,� Endzel said.

Manning’s defense attorney, Holly Brownley of the public defender’s office, asked Cronan to deliver a sentence within the pre-sentence recommendations.

Manning “had some serious traumas in his young life,� such as the murder of his mother and being exposed to drug and substance abuse, Brownley said.

The 34-year-old defendant, in an orange suit, handcuffs and wide black glasses, spoke for a few minutes at the hearing Thursday. He said he wants to go to a maximum-security prison, Patuxent Institution in Jessup, to receive treatment.

Manning acknowledged his daughter was the victim and said what occurred was an accident. He disagreed with Endzel’s claims that he has shown no remorse.

“To ostracize me from society, I don’t believe’s appropriate,� Manning said, noting that since 2019, he doesn’t feel he’s been a “trouble or menace� to society.

Cronan disagreed with that assessment.

The judge said Manning’s behavior has escalated the last 15 years. The dismissed rape conviction is “certainly something ... in this court’s mind,� Cronan said. He added that the sex offense conviction and a related burglary crime from 2016 as well as the pending assault case from two months ago played a role.

�That doesn’t sound to me that you haven’t been any trouble,� Cronan told Manning. “Quite the opposite.�

The judge said the facts of the case were clear: Manning assaulted his daughter and “manipulated the mother of your child� to try to get her to lie in court for him.

Cronan said the daughter “should have the comfort� to be with her father without such a thing happening.

In addition to the 18 years, Manning is ordered to be on probation for five years after his release, make no contact with Hiester or the daughter and not visit their residences, Â鶹´«Ã½, places of employment or daycares. He will register as a Tier III sex offender.