DA to request reduction in US lorry driver's 110-year sentence

Four people were killed when the driver's vehicle caused a pile-up on a Colorado freeway

Rogel Aguilera-Mederos was convicted of causing the fiery pile-up that killed four people and injured six on Interstate 70, west of Denver, Colorado. AP

The district attorney's office that prosecuted a lorry driver who was sentenced to 110 years in prison for an explosive crash that killed four people in suburban Denver, Colorado, US, will request a reduced term of 20 to 30 years.

Jefferson County District Attorney Alexis King said in a statement on Thursday evening she would ask the judge during a hearing on Monday to resentence Rogel Aguilera-Mederos for the April 25, 2019, crash on Interstate 70 west of Denver.

The family of Aguilera-Mederos held a rally in Denver, on Wednesday, to plead for clemency.

Supporters of Rogel Aguilera-Mederos say the sentence is deeply unjust and lorry drivers around the country have taken up his cause, using hashtags like #NoTrucksToColorado and #NoTrucksColorado.

The Colorado judge has said mandatory-minimum sentencing laws forced him to impose the long prison term after Aguilera-Mederos was convicted of vehicular homicide and other charges.

His family said in a statement they do not want to minimise the loss of those killed in the crash, but are calling on Governor Jared Polis to “take immediate action” to reduce the sentence for the 26-year-old man with no criminal record.

He was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol and fully co-operated with investigators, supporters said in a statement.

More than 4.5 million people have signed an online petition asking for a commutation.

Mr Polis, a Democrat, said on Tuesday he is reviewing a clemency application.

Prosecutors asked for a reconsideration of the sentence after the outcry, but also say the driver declined plea deal negotiations and the convictions recognise harm caused to crash victims.

On Tuesday, District Attorney Alexis King filed a motion asking the judge to consider the issue quickly.

Aguilera-Mederos’s defence lawyer, James Colgan, said on Wednesday the district attorney, who inherited the case from her predecessor, could have dropped some of the charges against him if she wanted a different sentence to be reached, given the state’s laws.

He said he is open to having either the governor or the judge decide a new, fair sentence, though he declined to say what that might be.

“When there’s tragedy on both sides, there’s got to be a happy medium, because ruining someone’s life isn’t going to make life better for the victims,” he said.

Aguilera-Mederos gave evidence that he had been hauling lumber when the brakes on his semi-trailer failed as he was descending a steep grade of Interstate 70 in the Rocky Mountain foothills in spring 2019. His lorry ploughed into vehicles that had slowed because of another wreck outside Denver, setting off a chain-reaction wreck and a fireball that consumed vehicles and melted parts of the motorway.

He wept as he apologised to the victims’ families at his December 13 sentencing.

“I am not a murderer. I am not a killer. When I look at my charges, we are talking about a murderer, which is not me,” he said. “I have never thought about hurting anybody in my entire life.”

Prosecutors argued he should have used a runaway ramp designed for such situations. Aguilera-Mederos, for his part, said he was struggling to avoid traffic and trying to shift to slow down.

District Court Judge Bruce Jones said at sentencing that mandatory-minimum sentencing laws required consecutive sentences on 27 counts of vehicular assault, assault, reckless driving and other charges.

“I will state that if I had the discretion, it would not be my sentence,” the judge said.

The crash killed Miguel Angel Lamas Arellano, 24, William Bailey, 67, Doyle Harrison, 61, and Stanley Politano, 69. Relatives of the victims supported at least some prison time at Aguilera-Mederos's sentencing hearing.