Hearing to Discuss 110-Year Sentence for I-70 Trucker Rogel Aguilera-Mederos Today

At 11 a.m. today, December 27, Judge A. Bruce Jones will hold a hearing in the District Court in Jefferson County to discuss the potential resentencing of Rogel Aguilera-Mederos, the long-haul trucker who was sentenced to 110 years in prison for his involvement in an April 2019 crash along Interstate 70 that resulted in four deaths.

"Based on the facts of this case and input from the victims and their families, my office will be asking the court to consider a sentencing range of 20-30 years when the Court is prepared to address resentencing. As the jury found, Mr. Aguilera-Mederos knowingly made multiple active choices that resulted in the death of four people, serious injuries to others, and mass destruction. This sentencing range reflects an appropriate outcome for that conduct, which was not an accident. Given that the victims in this case have more than one view of an appropriate outcome, and this trial court heard the evidence presented, we believe that this hearing is the best path to securing justice for everyone involved," says Alexis King, the District Attorney for the First Judicial District. King's staff prosecuted the case, which resulted in Aguilera-Mederos being convicted of 27 of 41 charges. The office of the DA's predecessor, Peter Weir, initiated the case.

The 110-year sentence for the crash was the result of mandatory sentencing laws in Colorado, which state lawmakers have already promised to examine and possibly reform in the upcoming legislative session.

Governor Jared Polis is also reviewing a clemency application that his office recently received from lawyers for Aguilera-Mederos, who was 23 at the time of the crash.

"We have also been working with the governor’s office to ensure that the victims and their loved ones are heard both in this process and the pending clemency application with the governor. We are grateful for the coordination with the governor’s office and thank the Department of Corrections for expediting the required evaluation report for resentencing," King says.

Supporters of Aguilera-Mederos are asking that either the judge or governor grant Aguilera-Mederos's freedom based on time served, with close to five million people signing a change.org petition pleading for that outcome.

Close to 100 supporters of Aguilera-Mederos, including the young man's mother, Oslaida Mederos, attended a rally at the Colorado Capitol on December 22, demanding clemency. "I want to see my son," Oslaida Mederos said in Spanish between sobs on the steps of the Colorado Capitol. Aguilera-Mederos is a Cuban immigrant who had been working out of Houston at the time of the crash.

The four people killed in the accident were 24-year-old Denver resident Miguel Angel Lamas Arellano; Doyle Harrison, a 61-year-old from Hudson; 67-year-old Arvadan William Bailey; and Stanley Politano, a 69-year-old who was also from Arvada.

Aside from the perceived harshness of the lengthy sentence, the case has also generated international attention because one of the prosecutors in the case, Kayla Wildeman, bragged on Facebook about receiving a "brake shoe from a semi truck" that her colleague, Trevor Moritzky, turned into a memento to celebrate the conviction. The brake trophy display posted to Facebook includes Wildeman's name, the case number and "I-70 Case."

The trial of Aguilera-Mederos included arguments revolving around whether he was at fault for a crash that occurred after the brakes on his truck failed.

"The post was in very poor taste and does not reflect the values of my administration. We have addressed it internally," said King when asked about the trophy; she noted that the brakes in the piece were not actual evidence from the case.