A Colorado district attorney has moved for a hearing to examine whether a 110-year prison sentence for a truck driver who killed four people in a crash in 2019 should stand.
Rogel Aguilera-Mederos, 26, was sentenced to the lengthy term last week because of state laws that require sentences for certain crimes to be served consecutively, or back to back.
The 100-year-plus sentence was quickly criticized by some and prompted calls for a reduction. More than 4.6 million people have signed a petition asking Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, to grant clemency or commute the sentence.
First Judicial District Attorney Alexis King filed a motion Friday for a hearing to reconsider the sentence under the state’s mandatory minimum law.
“The law also permits the Court to reconsider its sentence in an exceptional case involving unusual and extenuating circumstances,” the motion reads.
Aguilera-Mederos, who was hauling lumber in a tractor-trailer on Interstate 70 on April 25, 2019, said his brakes failed before he crashed into traffic that had been stopped for another accident in Lakewood. A fire erupted, engulfing vehicles.
Doyle Harrison, 61; William Bailey, 67; Stanley Politano, 69; and Miguel Lamas Arrellano, 24, were killed.
The chain-reaction crash and fire involved 28 vehicles. The semi was traveling an estimated 84 mph before the crash.
Source: Colorado DA seeks review of truck driver’s 110-year sentence in deadly crash
