Colorado Governor reviews pardon request for Latino trucker sentenced to 110 years

Photo: BROWARD SHERIFF OFFICE AND DENVER POLICE / Courtesy

The Governor’s Office Jared Polis is reviewing a request for pardon for Rogel Aguilera-Mederos, who was sentenced to 110 years in prison in a fatal accident on the Interstate 70, near Denver, in Colorado .

At a press conference on Tuesday, Polis confirmed that a clemency request for Aguilera-Mederos was presented to his office , according to KDVR.

Responding in Spanish to a question from a Spanish media outlet, Polis said: “Last night we received the request from your lawyer and my legal team is reviewing it right now . When we have a decision, we will announce it. ”

The First Judicial District Attorney also has filed a motion for the court to hear a reconsideration of Aguilera’s sentence -Mederos . The hearing is scheduled for 27 December 2021.

Movement in the case occurs just over a week after broke out the rejection of the sentence a, considered by many people as an involuntary accident and that a contingent of more than 4.7 million people has qualified of excessive on the change.org platform.

Leonard Martínez, Aguilera-Mederos attorney, said that the Hispanic trucker is “encouraged by the support he is receiving at this time.”

“He burst into tears when I told him about the 4.5 million people who have already signed a petition,” Martínez said.

Aguilera-Mederos was driving a truck of 18 wheels eastbound on the I – 70 through the mountains when he claimed his brakes failed while traveling toward the city. It eventually crashed into more than two dozen stopped vehicles and four semi-trailers in Lakewood, killing four people and injuring at least 10 more.

A jury found Aguilera-Mederos guilty of 27 counts, including four counts of vehicular manslaughter, six counts of assault in the first degree, and 10 charges of attempted assault in the first degree, in October.

One reason his sentence is so long is because, according to the law In Colorado, battery in the first degree and attempted battery in the first degree are considered “crimes of violence” and their prison terms must be consecutive, rather than simultaneous, if they stem from the same incident.

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