DENVER — More than 4.4 million people signed an online petition calling for clemency for the truck driver who was sentenced to 110 years in prison for the deadly 2019 crash on Colorado’s I-70 that resulted in four deaths, Law Officer reported.
The public outcry worked. The trucker had his lengthy sentence reduced Thursday by 100 years after Gov. Jared Polis commuted punishment in the case.
Instead of serving 110 years in prison, Rogel Aguilera-Mederos will instead serve 10 years and will be eligible for parole beginning on Dec. 30, 2026. In a letter to Aguilera-Mederos, Polis called the initial punishment “arbitrary and unjust,” FOX News reported.
Aguilera-Medros, 26, was convicted of vehicular homicide and other charges earlier this month. During testimony, he said his brakes failed as he tried to stop his semi-truck and trailer combo hauling lumber.
Investigators of the crash said Aguilera-Mederos, who was 23 at the time, lost control of the semi-truck after confirming its brakes failed on a Denver highway. The driver did not take runaway truck ramps — something prosecutors highlighted at trial — and was going about 85 miles per hour before it slammed into dozens of other cars that were stopped on the Interstate west of Denver, causing an explosion, according to WABC-TV.
The commutation came after Aguilera-Mederos applied for clemency following his harsh sentence on 27 charges, including four counts of vehicular manslaughter.
