Colorado truck driver has 100 years taken off of sentence over 2019 crash

After protests, Democrat Colorado Governor Jared Polis shaved a century off of the sentence for Rogel Aguilera-Mederos.

According to ABC, in granting the application for a reduced sentence on Thursday Polis said, "After learning about the highly atypical and unjust sentence in your case, I am commuting your sentence to 10 years and granting you parole eligibility on December 30, 2026."

In 2019 Rogel Aguilera-Mederos was involved in a highway crash that left four people dead. The disaster on Interstate 70 also destroyed 28 vehicles and left many people injured.

The prosecution accused the defendant of making bad decisions that led to the tragedy, much of it amounting to his car not being able to stop with faulty brakes. When being sentenced to 110 years for 27 counts (including vehicular homicide), millions signed a petition demanding a review of the punishment the 26-year-old had to face.

"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," wrote Polis in his explanation.

The brother of one of the victims, William Bailey, said that the length of the initial sentence in itself was unexpected. "None of us expected or wanted him to spend 110 years in jail. It was an act of negligence and not caring by the driver."

Bill’s wife had a similar shock about the duration of the sentence being over a century in length.

Protesters gathered at Colorado’s state Capitol in Denver before Christmas to demand a shorter sentence in the Aguilera-Mederos case. According to 9News, Rogel’s attorneys were vying for a 20 to 30 year sentence prior to the decision by Governor Polis to cut it down to 10.