First Judicial District Attorney Alexis King has asked a Colorado judge to schedule a hearing to reconsider the 110-year sentence handed down to a truck driver involved in an interstate rack that led to the death of 4 people.
Hearing in January to reconsider lengthy prison sentence of trucker
District Court Judge A. Bruce Jones has scheduled a January 13 hearing to reconsider the 110-year sentence of Rogel Aguilera-Mederos. The truck driver was involved in a fiery interstate collision that led to the death of four people and injuries to others, and damaging or destroying 28 vehicles.
In a procedural hearing on Monday, CNN reported that attorneys for both the prosecution and defense voiced concerns over ensuring that any resentencing decisions while not interfering with the defendant’s right to appeal.
At the hearing on Monday, First Judicial District Attorney Alexis King asked the court to reconsider the original sentence, saying her office will recommend a sentence of 20-30 years, ABC reported.
The judge requested more information from both prosecuting and defense attorneys by filing additional memos no later than January 10.
The attorney for Aguilera-Mederos wants the defendant to appear at the in-person hearing but does not want him to testify.
Charges against truck driver
The stretch of highway where the 2019 accident occurred had a 45 mph speed limit for commercial vehicles. Mederos’ brakes failed, and he was driving at least 85 mph before the crash. According to police, he drove past a runaway truck ramp and crashed into stopped traffic.
Prosecutors argued Mederos intentionally passed the ramp and why victims and families of those who died said he should serve time in prison.
However, defense attorneys said: “By the time he realized it was there, he was past it.” Attorneys argued the then-23-year-old truck driver was “under a lot of stress” as he attempted to get his truck into gear to slow down with non-working brakes.
Aguilera-Mederos was convicted of vehicular homicide and 23 other charges, Fox reported. ABC reported Mederos was charged with 42 counts and found guilty by a Jefferson County jury of 27 counts.
Nearly 5 million people petition sentence, truckers threaten to boycott Colorado
In the wake of the lengthy prison sentence handed down to Aguilera-Mederos, numerous truckers threatened to boycott delivering to the state of Colorado.
Nearly 5 million people have signed a change.org petition calling for the resentencing, commutation, or clemency, saying the accident was “not intentional.”
Reality TV star and attorney-in-training Kim Kardashian reached out to her millions of followers to bring further attention to the case by mentioning Colorado’s governor in a tweet and calling for him to commute the sentence.
