HILTON HEAD, SC - A Hilton Head Island man convicted of a 1999 sexual assault on a woman at her North Forest Beach home has died, according to state prison officials.

John Arnold Brinson, 48, died of natural causes at a hospital Sunday after being transported from Lieber Correctional Institution in Ridgeville, according to state corrections director Jon Ozmint.

Corrections Department spokeswoman Donna Hodges declined to reveal further details about the cause of death.

No investigation will be done because the death isn't suspicious, but an autopsy will be performed, Ozmint said.

Brinson was serving three life sentences without parole on first-degree burglary, first-degree criminal sexual conduct and kidnapping.

He was convicted of breaking into the North Forest Beach home of Jacque Moore the night of Dec. 2, 1999, and sexually assaulting her for several hours. He was arrested and charged with the attack less than a day after it happened.

At the end of a four-day trial in October 2000, the jury returned with a guilty verdict after 15 minutes. A judge sentenced Brinson to life in jail in part based on his criminal record. Brinson had seven previous convictions dating back to 1978, including charges of criminal sexual conduct, burglary, Peeping Tom and cocaine possession.

However, the case continued into the early part of the decade, when an appeals court ruled in 2004 that changes in the indictment for burglary and rape were improperly done before the trial.

The court upheld the kidnapping charge, meaning Brinson would have remained in jail for life even if the other charges had to be re-tried. But the state Supreme Court reversed the appeals court decision late last year, reinstating the convictions.

While the case continued through the judicial system, Moore became an advocate for rape victims, frequently reaching out to other survivors and speaking out publicly about her experiences.

But relatives said the assault began to pay a toll mentally. A normally positive person beforehand, she developed a fixation on the attack. Moore committed suicide July 5, 2004. She was 63.

Her son, Dobbie Green of Hilton Head Island, said he was glad Brinson was dead. Green said his mother always feared Brinson would get out of prison.

"I'm sorry it didn't happen sooner," he said of the inmate's death. "If it had happened two years ago, my mom might still be alive."