Posted on 12/16/2021 7:42:34 AM PST by real saxophonist
Thousands sign petition asking for reduced sentence for truck driver in I-70 crash
by: Evan Kruegel
Updated: Dec 16, 2021
DENVER (KDVR) — More than 1-million people have signed an online petition asking Gov. Jared Polis to grant clemency to Rogel Aguilera-Mederos, the truck driver found guilty of a fiery 2019 crash that killed four people.
Aguilera-Mederos was sentenced to 110 years in prison on Monday, after a jury found him guilty of 27 counts in October.
According to a Change.org spokesperson, the petition is the fastest-growing petition on the website in all of 2021, with more than 45,000 people signing the petition over a one-hour stretch Wednesday.
Many on the petition have questioned the lengthy sentence, for an act they call unintentional.
“There doesn’t seem to be an intentionality of murder, and he’s getting a sentence that would rival a mass murderer,” attorney Bryan Kuhn said. “I think that is not sitting well, I think a lot of people think there maybe should be a long jail sentence, but this may be just a little too much for some folks.”
Kuhn said the judge’s hands were tied on the sentencing by something called mandatory sentencing, a framework laid out in state law that requires certain sentences for certain crimes.
“If that is the legal code or statute, the judge does not really have any flexibility with that,” Kuhn said. “The judge has to follow that, and does not have any discretion to raise or lower the sentence.”
Criminal defense attorney Jay Tiftickjian said he was surprised to see so many charges filed, knowing the mandatory sentencing would likely result in a life sentence.
“I can’t think of the last case here, or anywhere else, where somebody committed a negligent or reckless crime that resulted in such a sentence,” he said. “It’s really telling of how the government can come down and really crush someone, if they want to.”
At Monday’s sentencing, the judge said he would not run the sentences consecutively, if given discretion over the decision.
It’s unclear how the victims families feel about the sentence length. Those that spoke Monday offered little insight into that decision.
Polis’ office released the following statement regarding potential clemency:
We are aware of this issue, the Governor and his team review each clemency application individually.
Attorneys said Aguilera-Mederos will now be given the option to appeal the sentencing, a process that could take months.
From 110 years to 99 years.
Video and links to original story at source.
This doesn’t make sense.
You can’t get a million people to sign a petition for anything.
Aaannnddd, this is why we dont want online voting...
In most states, sentences at trial are just for show. The parole board decides how much time is actually served
This doesn’t make sense.
You can’t get a million people to sign a petition for anything.
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This sounds like polls that can be clicked and reclicked continuously and repeatedly by one person. And each cleck counts as a result.
Ignore this petition.
Maybe you could on a petition to ban toxic DiHydrogen Monoxide.
I am confused, every news story I can find on this says his brakes failed.
If that is what happened, then how was he found guilty? I assumed he was drunk, on drugs, or at a minimum fell asleep.
This doesn’t make sense.
You can’t get a million people to sign a petition for anything.
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This makes perfect sense. If you realize a few million “people” can be redefined as a few hundred.
This is how Joe Biden got 81 million votes.
Just a few people in a few precints going click, click, click...
I assume because he is Latino, he has one million “people” signing his petition.
If a request for signatures went out over Spanish-language areas of social media, you could easily get a million hispanics to sign. They would automatically see the heedless Mexican truck driver as the victim.
Given all that, it sounds like an excessive sentence? Drunk driving manslaughter convicts get far less than that around here.
Is there something about the circumstances that makes this less of an accident?
No. He’s considered a professional driver.
It says he passed DUI and drug tests multiple times. If he fell asleep the criminal liability is not the same as DUI.
There's something serious behind the scenes, because otherwise, they wouldn't dare do this to a 'migrant worker'.
Any crime that’s deserving of a hundred year sentence is deserving of death, in my opinion. One hundred years in prison is simply ridiculous. Even twenty years is tantamount to a life sentence, so long as it’s actually served.
His brakes failed because he was driving like a jackass miles up in the mountains.
The professional driver is responsible for all aspects of his rig. Checking the brakes are part of the daily and ending trip duties of the day. If anything fails, it’s in him.
His brakes failed because he’s an idiot that doesn’t know how to drive. Plus he passed up taking a runaway truck ramp which would have prevented the accident.
Yep, didn’t engine brake, passed several opportunities to get off the road or use the runaway truck ramp.
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