The District Attorney’s office retried Morales, and in March a jury found him guilty. According to the D.A.’s version of the second trial, the man knew she was asleep:
The prosecutor argued that the victim was raped when she was asleep. Furthermore, the prosecutor proved that the defendant knew the victim was asleep when he attacked her. The defendant again testified that the victim was awake.
Morales’ will get a strike on his criminal record and will have to register as a sex offender, the D.A.’s office said.
The 2009 rape happened at a Cerritos house party. According to the appellate court’s summary of the 18-year-old woman’s side of the story, the Norwalk man continued to have sex with her after she realized he was not her boyfriend and tried to push him off.