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On Wednesday, Gov. Jared Polis announced that he will be reducing the sentence to 10 years and making Colorado truck driver Rogel Aguilera-Mederos eligible for parole.
- “The length of your 110-year sentence is simply not commensurate with your actions, nor with penalties handed down to others for similar crimes,” Polis wrote in the clemency letter.
- He wrote that “this arbitrary and unjust sentence was the result of a law of Colorado passed by the legislature and signed by a prior Governor and is not the fault of the judge who handed down the mandatory sentence required by the law in this case.”
- “This case will hopefully spur an important conversation about sentencing laws, but any subsequent changes to the law would not retroactively impact your sentence, which is why I am granting you this limited commutation,” Polis wrote.
The Colorado truck driver was sentenced to 110 years in prison after a deadly crash that killed four people in 2019, per Deseret News.
- Aguilera-Mederos, 26, was convicted on 27 counts, and Judge A. Bruce Jones stated that his hands were tied due to mandatory minimum state laws.
- The crash of the semitruck happened due to a brake failure. The prosecution argued that he knew his brakes were failing and he failed to take the necessary precautions like using a runaway truck ramp.
- The sentence was met with outcry. A Change.org petition gathered over 5 million signatures, Kim Kardashian West being one of them.
Some did not welcome Polis’ gesture. Per BBC, District Attorney Alexis King said she was “disappointed in the Governor’s decision to act prematurely.” A hearing to reconsider the verdict is already underway.
- “I joined the surviving victims and families of those who lost their loved ones in their wish to have the trial judge determine an appropriate sentence in this case,” said King.