Another crazy long sentence resulting from crazy crude mandatory minimums after deadly accident in Colorado
A very sad case turned into a very extreme sentence for a truck driver in Colorado earlier this week. This lengthy local story, headlined “Driver gets 110 years in fiery I-70 crash that killed 4,” provides lots of the details and videos from the sentencing. Here are the basics:
The man convicted after a crash on Interstate 70 that left four people dead was sentenced to 110 years in prison Monday afternoon.
Rogel Aguilera-Mederos was 23 when his semi-truck slammed into stopped traffic on the interstate near Denver West Parkway on April 25, 2019. Four people died instantly from the impact: Doyle Harrison, William Bailey, Miguel Angel Lamas Arellano and Stanley Politano. It is believed they all died from injuries and not the resulting fire.
Aguilera-Mederos was found guilty by a jury on 27 counts in total. The most serious charges were four counts of vehicular manslaughter. Other counts he was found guilty of included first-degree assault, first-degree attempt to commit assault, vehicular assault, reckless driving and careless driving. He was found not guilty on 15 counts of first-degree attempt to commit assault.
Judge A. Bruce Jones sentenced Aguilera-Mederos to the required 10-year minimum for each of the six counts of first-degree assault with extreme indifference, to be served consecutively. He was also sentenced to the required minimum of five years for 10 additional counts of attempted first-degree assault with extreme indifference. Those will be served consecutively as well.
The judge said the legislature required him to order those sentences be served consecutively, which was why, he said, he issued the minimum sentence for those charges. However, he did say he may have sentenced Aguilera-Mederos to more than the minimum, if not required to issue the sentences consecutively.
“In all victim impact statements I read, I did not glean from them someone saying, ‘He should be in prison for the rest of his life, and he should never, ever get out,” Jones said. “Far from it. There was forgiveness reflected in those statements, but also a desire that he be punished and serve time in prison, and I share those sentiments.”
In addition to the 110 years stemming from those charges, Aguilera-Mederos was sentenced to 30 years for 11 other charges that will be served concurrently.
Aguilera-Mederos was extremely emotional as he asked for forgiveness before Jones announced the sentence. “I know it has been hard and heartbreaking for everyone involved,” he said though tears. “I can’t sleep, I think all the time about the victims. A part of me will be missing forever, as well.” Aguilera-Mederos said he took responsibility for the crash, and said it was not intentional. “I have never thought about hurting anyone in my entire life,” he said….
The judge said his hands were tied when it came to sentencing, because Colorado’s violent crime statute is specific. 9NEWS Legal Expert Scott Robinson said certain violent crimes require a minimum sentence for each victim, and they have to run consecutively. But he said there is one way for violent crime sentences to be reduced.
“Colorado’s violent crimes statute gives judges some discretion after 180 days have passed,” Robinson said. “Here, the sentencing judge, Bruce Jones, will have an opportunity to determine whether there were unusual and extenuating circumstances which would justify a reduction in the sentences imposed.” The judge said he could not assure the courtroom this would be the end of this process, giving an indication that he may consider a motion like that.
The jury had to decide whether the crash resulted from a series of bad choices by the driver or a mechanical failure that the driver had no control over. Aguilera-Mederos faced 42 counts in all. He testified for hours and tearfully recounted publicly for the first time his version of what happened on that day.
Both sides agreed that his truck lost brakes at some point, but they disagreed on how or why that happened…. After the brakes were out, prosecutors argued that Aguilera-Mederos made a series of bad choices that resulted in the crash. One of them being his failure to use a runaway truck ramp on the highway.
I do not know the particulars of Colorado sentencing law, but I sure hope there is a mechanism for the reconsideration of this crazy extreme sentence before too long. But the very possibility that an awful accident can lead to an initial mandated sentence of 100+ years suggest to me that some reform of Colorado sentencing law is still needed.
Here is some other notable recent coverage of this case: