Colorado Governor Reduces Rogel Aguilera-Mederos' Sentence to 10 Years

By ShaCamree Gowdy Published: January 3, 2022

Colorado Governor Reduces Rogel Aguilera-Mederos’ Sentence to 10 Years

In Summary

Rogel Aguilera-Mederos will no longer be spending the rest of his life in prison following clemency from Colorado Governor Jared Polis.

Rogel Aguilera-Mederos will now serve a 10-year prison sentence and be eligible for parole on December 30, 2026, as reported by CNN, a 100-year difference that comes after widespread public support and uproar.

Aguilera-Mederos, a semi tractor-trailer driver from Houston, was previously sentenced to 110 years in prison on four counts of vehicular homicide and 23 other charges following a fiery 28-car pileup on a Colorado interstate in 2019, which killed four people.

PREVIOUS: Colorado Judge To Reconsider 110-Year Sentence for Rogel Aguilera-Mederos

He told Lakewood Police Department detectives at the time that his brakes failed while he was traveling at 85 mph and he was unable to move over to the shoulder to avoid stalled traffic due to another semi being parked there.

Colorado Governor Jared Polis wrote Aguilera-Mederos a clemency letter on December 30 informing him that his “highly atypical and unjust sentence” had been commuted based solely on the facts of the case.

“While you are not blameless, your sentence is disproportionate compared with many other inmates in our criminal justice system who committed intentional, premeditated, or violent crimes,” Polis said in the letter.

“The length of your 110-year sentence is simply not commensurate with your actions, nor with penalties handed down to others for similar crimes. There is an urgency to remedy this unjust sentence and restore confidence in the uniformity and fairness of our criminal justice system, and consequently I have chosen to commute your sentence now.”

Colorado District Court Judge A. Bruce Jones said he was bound to the state’s mandatory minimum sentencing regulations when he handed down the harsh sentence to Aguilera-Maderas in early December. The sentence triggered calls for reforms in the state’s sentencing statutes, as well as a Change.org petition with over 5 million signatures.

First Judicial District Attorney Alexis King requested the court consider a sentence of 20-30 years, with the hearing being scheduled for January 2022. King has since expressed her disappointment with the Governor’s “premature” action to grant clemency, per CNN.