photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

The Douglas County Judicial and Law Enforcement Center is pictured in March of 2022. The center houses the Douglas County District Court and other county services.

A Topeka man who was set to be tried for rape in two weeks instead entered a plea Thursday in Douglas County District Court to two counts of sexually motivated aggravated battery.

The man, Daniel James Garcia-Hernandez, 23, was originally charged with one felony count of rape of a person who was unconscious or powerless, according to charging documents. The incident was alleged to have occurred on Jan. 16, 2022. His trial was scheduled for Feb. 10.

Garcia-Hernandez pleaded guilty to two counts of sexually motivated aggravated battery, both high-level felonies. He thereby avoided the risk of being convicted of rape and receiving as much as 12 years in prison. Instead, he agreed to serve about three years and register as a sex offender as recommended by the state.

Judge Stacey Donovan, accepting Garcia-Hernandez’s plea, said that she was not bound by the state’s recommendations and that she could give him a longer term if she saw fit. Donovan could sentence Garcia-Hernandez up to 43 months, 3.6 years, on each count to run consecutively for a total of seven years under Kansas Sentencing Guidelines.

Assistant District Attorney Samantha Foster said that the state did find that Garcia-Hernandez caused the woman great bodily harm and that the battery was sexually motivated, which means Garcia-Hernandez will have to register as a sex offender. She said that Garcia-Hernandez would not be allowed to ask the court for leniency at sentencing and he has agreed to serve his time in prison.

Garcia-Hernandez is scheduled to be sentenced on March 3. He is currently free on a $75,000 bond. The Journal-World has requested Garcia-Hernandez’s booking photo from the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office.