Colorado trucker?s 110-year sentence reduced to 10 years after outcry

The Colorado governor has intervened to reduce the 110-year sentence handed down to a trucker for his role in a fatal 2019 collision after widespread outcry and calls for leniency.

Jared Polis announced Thursday he would commute the sentence for Rogel Aguilera-Mederos, reducing his sentence from 110 years to 10 years. Under the new sentence, the 26-year-old would be eligible for parole in five years.

"I am writing to inform you that I am granting your application for a commutation," Polis wrote. "I believe you deserve clemency for several reasons. You were sentenced to 110 years in prison, effectively more than a life sentence, for a tragic but unintentional act."

Polis said that the sentence was "simply not commensurate" with Aguilera-Mederos' "actions, nor with penalties handed down to others for similar crimes".

In October, a jury convicted Aguilera-Mederos of vehicular homicide and other charges related to a deadly collision that occurred while he was hauling lumber in the Rocky Mountain foothills. He has said that the brakes on his semi-trailer failed as he was descending a steep section of the highway, leading to four deaths and a multi-vehicle pileup.

The lengthy sentence, which the judge said he was obligated to give Aguilera-Mederos due to minimum sentencing laws in the state, was widely condemned and fueled criticism of the US justice system. More than 5 million people signed a petition calling for Polis to grant clemency to Aguilera-Mederos or commute his sentence, an effort truckers, civil rights groups and celebrities such as Kim Kardashian voiced support for.

"It is a stark miscarriage of justice," said Domingo Garcia, the president of the League of United Latin American Citizens (Lulac), of the sentence. Lulac sent a letter to Polis on behalf of Aguilera-Mederos, a Cuban immigrant, requesting a pardon or a reduction of his sentence, and Garcia traveled to Colorado to meet with the governor.