Rogel Aguilera-Mederos is Cuban. He is 26 years old and worked as a truck driver. Just days ago, was sentenced to spend 110 years in prison , after being identified as responsible for an accident in Colorado in 2019, in which 28 were damaged and four people were killed .
Aguilera declared that his brakes went off , and he found a traffic stopper due to another collision, so he decided to throw himself onto the shoulder trying not to collide with other vehicles.
He was found guilty of 42 charges , among which are reckless driving, careless driving, vehicular manslaughter, assault in the first degree, attempted assault in the first degree and vehicular assault.
TO. Bruce Jones, judge in the case , said that he did not intend to send the Hispanic to prison for life, but that he could not do more due to the mandates of state law .
Outrage
On Change.org there is a petition to grant clemency or commutation of the sentence for time served. And that request has been endorsed and signed by around three million people.
“ Has complied with each and every request of the Jefferson County courts and investigators in the case. He passed every drug and alcohol test, including a chemical test. This accident was neither intentional nor a criminal act on the part of the driver ”, states the petition.
In addition, among those who have raised their voices In defense of the Hispanic driver, considering that the sentence he was given is “unfair” are several personalities.
The Denver Post, one of the most influential in Colorado, joined who ask for mercy. In an editorial article, he asked Governor Jared Polis for a review of the case so that the sentence is reduced to “something more reasonable”.
“ Aguilera-Mederos actually killed four people and seriously injured others in a tragic and preventable accident. But we believe that there is an important distinction that the law, as written, did not allow the jurors or the judge to make: the youth of 26 years I was not drunk .
“I was not intentionally driving recklessly because I was in a hurry or because of an emotion or because I was fleeing from the police. He wasn’t even full of road rage when his truck sped down the Interstate 70 out of control. Rather, a tool that Aguilera-Mederos used to work, failed , ”says the Denver Post editorial.
“This case is so egregious. It puzzles me that here we are in 2021 and that someone who was not drunk, who was not drugged … It is an accident, his brakes failed. But here is the Latino driver, he is accused and sentenced to 110 years for his first offense. ”
The statement is by Domingo García, president of the Latino civil rights organization LULAC.
A long way
His lawyer, James Colgan, said he would appeal the sentence . However, as he admitted in an interview with Telemundo, the road will not be short or easy .
“An appeal in a case like this could take a couple of years; is not something that will happen overnight . This is one of the biggest judicial errors that I have seen, that is why the case has had so much resonance “.
The lawyer added that” a punishment has to fit the crime, and the punishment does not fit the crime in this case. Even if Aguilera-Mederos made mistakes, he shouldn’t have to pay with the rest of his life ”.
“ The problem with this appeal is not it will be the sentence itself. According to the law, the Court was not incorrect. However, the law, as it is written, is barbaric and draconian ”, the lawyer assured, on the other hand, to CNN.
Before the judge, the Hispanic driver pleaded: “He was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol. I was working and lost my brakes. I lost my brakes. ” An arrest affidavit states that the driver “thought he was going to die, so he closed his eyes before hitting stopped traffic.”
Colorado laws, which led to the long sentence, state that the sentences for the crimes that were imposed are served consecutively, one after the other .
There are legal ways to fight for the reduction of the sentence, but, as the Hispanic lawyer said, the road does not look easy or short.