Rogel Lazaro Aguilera-Mederos, seen in this 2019 photo, was convicted in October of causing a fiery pileup that killed four people and injured six others on Interstate 70 west of Denver in April 2019. "Rogel has said several times that he wishes he had the courage to crash and take his own life that day, this tragic accident wasn't done with Intent, it wasn't a criminal act, it was an accident," reads the petition, which was created three years ago and was revived last week. "We have spoken to the living victims and the families of the deceased victims, and it is their specific desire to be heard on this modification, in this forum, as quickly as possible." Millions of people have signed a petition asking the state to reduce his sentenceĪ petition asking Polis to commute Aguilera-Mederos' sentence or grant him clemency had garnered more than 4.3 million signatures by Monday.
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"The purpose for the People's expedited request is so that the named victims in the case, as well as their families, have an opportunity to be heard by the trial court who is fully aware of the facts of the case," it adds. King's office filed another motion on Tuesday, noting that the Department of Corrections may complete their report as early as Thursday and asking the court to set a status hearing on either Friday or Monday. It adds that such review is permitted after the court receives a report on the defendant's diagnosis and evaluation, and asks the court to set up a hearing as soon as possible after getting that report. "As Colorado law required the imposition of the sentence in this case, the law also permits the Court to reconsider its sentence in an exceptional case involving unusual and extenuating circumstances," the motion reads. The district attorney is calling for an expedited hearingįirst Judicial District Attorney Alexis King - who pursued the case against Aguilera-Mederos - announced on Tuesday that her office had filed a motion on Friday asking the court to reconsider its sentence. The decision has sparked outrage over Colorado's minimum sentencing laws, as well as calls for Aguilera-Mederos' punishment to be reduced. "If I had the discretion, it would not be my sentence," he said, according to CBS Denver. He was sentenced last week to the minimum available on all counts, to be served consecutively, totaling 110 years in prison.īruce Jones, the district judge in the case, said that he did not believe Aguilera-Mederos deserved life in prison but that Colorado law requires sentences for each count to be served consecutively instead of concurrently. The crash happened as he passed one of the state's runaway truck ramps.Īs Colorado Public Radio reports, a jury found Aguilera-Mederos guilty in October of vehicular homicide and 23 other charges, including six counts of first-degree assault, 10 counts of attempt to commit assault in the first degree, two counts of vehicular assault, one count of reckless driving and four counts of careless driving. He survived the catastrophic crash with minor injuries.Īguilera-Mederos has said that he lost control of the truck after its brakes failed and that he tried to pull over to the shoulder to avoid stopped traffic but another semi had already stopped there.
Within days of his sentencing, more than four million people signed a petition calling for the sentence to be reduced, with that number surpassing 4.6 million as of midday Wednesday.Īguilera-Mederos' truck slammed into a group of cars that were backed up in traffic on a stretch of Interstate 70 along the western edge of Denver, Colo., in April 2019, triggering a large fire and 28-vehicle pileup that killed four people between the ages of 24 and 69. The reversal follows a groundswell of public support for Aguilera-Mederos, a Cuban immigrant and Texas resident who was 23 at the time of the accident. Prosecutors have asked a judge to reconsider the 110-year sentence he delivered last week to Rogel Lazaro Aguilera-Mederos, the semitruck driver who was behind the wheel during a deadly 28-vehicle pileup in Colorado in 2019. Ronda Scholting/West Metro Fire Rescue/AP
Truck driver Rogel Lazaro Aguilera-Mederos was sentenced last week to 110 years in prison for causing the accident. A firefighter works on the scene of a deadly pileup involving over two dozen vehicles near Denver in April 2019.
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