FULLERTON – A judge re-sentenced a drunk driver on Thursday to two years in prison after an appeals court overruled his efforts to stiffen the sentencing after learning a prosecutor had failed to give the victim’s family a chance to talk in court.
Jorge Perez, 31, was ordered to serve the two years in prison he was initially sentenced to, rather than the four years, four months behind bars he was offered after the original deal was revoked.
In the early morning hours of Jan. 28, 2017, Perez ran a red light at Associated Road and Yorba Linda Boulevard and struck Jessica Weber, now 20, who was walking with a group of friends back to the Cal State Fullerton dorms. Perez drove off but was quickly caught by police.
Weber’s family members, who live in Sacramento, were told by the initial prosecutor that they would be notified before the sentencing.
The Orange County District Attorney’s Office has acknowledged that a new prosecutor took over the case and inadvertently failed to notify the family of a hearing where Perez accepted a deal offered by Superior Court Judge Scott Steiner.
Weber’s family was angered, wanting a chance to persuade the judge to give Perez a longer sentence. Steiner agreed to unwind the deal, declaring that the initial plea had been “improperly entered” because the family had a right to be heard.
State appeals judges determined that taking away the initial deal was improper, and ordering Steiner to re-sentence Perez to no more than the two years.
During the re-sentencing hearing on Thursday, Weber’s mother, Bonnie Masters-Weber, told the judge that her daughter still lives with pain from the accident, when she suffered three broken vertebrae, broken pelvis, broken hip and broken arm.
Masters-Weber told the court that she was inspired by the attention the case has brought to victim’s rights.
“I urge this court to continue this path, taking the lead among his peers so the criminals and the victims are treated lawfully,” Masters-Weber said. “That no longer will criminals have the upper hand in dealings because there was no one to protect victims’ rights.”