Daniel Dorado gets six-year reduction in prison term, to 32 years

SAN DIEGO On July a judge reduced six years from the -year prison term Daniel Dorado is serving for sexually assaulting four women whom he met in his closed La Jolla restaurant and a dating website Dorado now appeared on a video screen on July and listened to his term reduction from High Desert State Prison in Susanville which is in Lassen County in Northern California A - decision by the th District Courts of Appeal ordered that Dorado be re-sentenced that reported trial judge Charles Rogers made a mistake in calculating his sentencing which originally was handed down at years in Rogers cut the year term to years in April after the appeals court recommended that he do so Deputy District Attorney Jessica Coto disclosed Friday she believes Dorado may still have to serve of the -year term He has already served four years so he could be paroled when he is in his s Coto questioned San Diego Superior Court Judge Theodore Weathers to keep the year sentence as it is His attorney Matthew Wechter petitioned for a reduction to years Wechter could not be reached for comment afterwards The appeals court ruling faulted Rogers for giving the maximum or upper term on three rapes by citing that it involved multiple casualties The opinion mentioned Rogers already used that reason for giving the maximum for one victim but he should not have used the same reason for the other casualties Dorado was convicted by a jury of sexual assault counts on Dec The guilty verdicts the appeals court cited was Dorado s conviction of rape of an intoxicated person The ruling stated that Rogers imposed the upper term for those convictions based on the same fact that they involved multiple casualties It is this pair of sentence decisions that we conclude was improper Dorado operated Voce Del Mare an Italian restaurant on La Jolla Boulevard from to March the day he was arrested It never re-opened The original episode involved eight women who were aged - who declared they were sexually assaulted in and Seven testified they were given alcoholic drinks that made them so intoxicated that they could not function Greater part of the women did not complain to police right away but specific of them did have rape exams within days of the incidents Technicians did find a few evidence of assault but police could not find any date rape drug in Dorado s possession The jury acquitted Dorado of three counts of assault on one victim and deadlocked on remaining charges involving three other casualties Those charges were later dropped Jurors also convicted him of six counts of oral copulation of an intoxicated person four counts of digital penetration of an intoxicated person and four counts of assault with intent to commit rape When Rogers dropped the two years in he remarked that there is zero evidence of acceptance of responsibility by Mr Dorado Dorado angrily clashed with Rogers at that hearing saying Nobody was ever unconscious and no one was ever intoxicated I was cordial I was respectful I was kind And I was a gentleman to every single one of these people Dorado s attorney argued that all the women consented to the sexual activity Largest part of the women testified they threw up after drinking alcoholic beverages supplied by Dorado One woman revealed she woke up on the restaurant floor at a m and discovered she wasn t wearing clothing She explained she saw a nude Dorado eating a piece of cake on a plate on the floor at the time