A 36-year-old man accused of stabbing an employee at a Redwood City Denny’s restaurant last year is set to be sentenced to 15 years and eight months in state prison after he pleaded no contest to attempted murder, felony false imprisonment and felony witness dissuasion Monday, according to the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office.
Slated to be sentenced Wednesday, Francisco Legorreta admitted he used a deadly weapon and inflicted great bodily injury for going to the restaurant where his wife worked at 1201 Broadway July 5 and stabbing an employee he believed was having an affair with her, according to prosecutors.
Between June 21 and June 26, Legorreta and his wife are believed to have had an ongoing dispute over the alleged affair, resulting in Legorreta blocking her exit from their home to get her to discuss the issue and forcing her to leave the house through a bedroom window while he was sleeping. On June 26, the couple’s 11-year-old daughter called police when she heard them arguing, and officers arrested Legorreta and issued an emergency protection order to keep him from contacting his wife, according to prosecutors.
On July 5, Legorreta went to the Denny’s restaurant in the early evening while his wife was working and found that her co-worker, a 22-year-old man who Legorreta suspected of having an affair with her, was in the restroom. He went to the restroom and allegedly stabbed the man three times in his stomach and back and was detained by Redwood City police officers as he left the restaurant, according to prosecutors.
As the stabbing victim was transported out of the restaurant on a gurney, Legorreta allegedly said he hoped the man dies. The man’s injuries included a punctured kidney and loss of a lung, according to prosecutors.
In custody on $5 million bail, Legorreta’s case was set to go to trial Monday when he accepted the plea deal. His defense attorney Scott Sherman said he client would have faced a life sentence if he was convicted as charged, and that he believed the case was overcharged and it wouldn’t have been worth the risk of going to trial under the circumstances.
“This is a sad case,” he said. “Mr. Legorreta has been a good law-abiding citizen. … He’s a good man who will put this behind him and move on with his life.”
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