An online petition urging the release of a truck driver sentenced to 110 years in prison after his truck killed four people. The truck that ploughed into a line of cars near Denver in 2019 has been signed by over five million people. A Colorado judge sentenced Rogel Aguilera-Mederos after a jury found him guilty of vehicular homicide on four counts and 23 other charges relating to the accident. At his sentencing, Aguilera-Mederos begged for forgiveness and confessed to the court he ‘cries all the time’ when he thinks about the accident.
According to Aguilera-Mederos, his brakes failed while he was driving on Interstate 70. Nonetheless, prosecutors allege he may have missed a runaway truck ramp along the highway where he could have stopped. Despite receiving all minimum sentences, Colorado state law requires that each sentence be served consecutively. The judge even objected to the length of the sentence. ‘If I had the discretion, it would not be my sentence’, he said.
More than 4.6 million people had signed the change.org petition by Wednesday, asking Colorado Governor Jared Polis to grant clemency to Rogel Aguilera-Mederos. On social media, the petition quickly became viral, with celebrities such as Kim Kardashian West calling on Governor Polis to commute or shorten the sentence. A spokesperson for Governor Polis reports that his office has received a clemency request for consideration.
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The sentencing has been considered by some of the families of those who died in the crash. Miguel Angel Lamas Arellano, 24, Doyle Harrison, 61, Stanley Politano, 69, and William Bailey, 67, all died in the crash. Gaige Evans, the widow of Bailey, said sentencing laws need to be reviewed, but a commutation should not be made. ‘He was found guilty of reckless behavior that killed my husband that was the most important thing to me,’ said Evans.
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