Trucker Convicted in Deadly I-70 Crash Sentenced to 110 Years in Prison
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More Than ONE MILLION People Demand RELEASE of Trucker Sentenced to Prison For 110 Years
Boycott Begins As Petition Demanding Release of I-70 Crash Trucker Nears 3 MILLION
Denver, CO — The trucker convicted in a horrific 2019 crash along Interstate 70 which claimed the lives of four people and injured six others has been sentenced to more than 100 years in prison.
On Monday, 25-year-old Cuban immigrant Rogel Lazaro Aguilera-Mederos was sentenced to serve 110 years in prison effectively ensuring he will die in jail.
In October, a Jefferson County jury convicted Mederos on 27 criminal counts including four counts of vehicular homicide and ten counts of attempt to commit assault in the first degree- extreme indifference.
Click HERE to read a synopsis of the trial.
Mederos sobbed through much of Monday’s sentencing hearing as victims’ family members spoke about their pain and loss.
Mederos did speak on his behalf.
“I’m dying. It is hard to live with this trauma. I can’t sleep,” he told the court. “I’m thinking all [the time] about the victims. This was a terrible accident, I know. I take responsibility. But it was not intentional. I am not a criminal.”
In handing down the sentence, Judge A. Bruce Jones said that even though the trucker made a “series of terrible decisions,” he had “no desire” to see Mederos spend the rest of his life in prison.
However, the Judge explained Colorado law required he must impose at least the minimum sentences for violent crimes and they must be served consecutively.
“It’s not punishment of the defendant for being a bad person,” he said. “It’s punishment for his actions and the result of those actions.”
Restitution will also be imposed and determined at a later date.
The accident quickly garnered national attention and opinions on Mederos’s fate have been split.
Some argue justice required what would effectively amount to a life-sentence for the Cuban immigrant.
However, others contended that while Mederos was to blame for the fiery carnage, he was also a victim of an inadequate commercial driver training and licensing system, and a now-defunct trucking company that failed to properly equip him.
Mederos can seek appeal within 49 days and can also seek a reconsideration of the sentence.
WATCH the entire hearing below.
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I honestly believe the driver is sorry. But that doesn’t bring the deceased back, either. What i shake my head at is ( and I don’t mean to sound shallow here), but they already stated he will die in prison given the length of time served. I also once read that is costs an average of $15,000 a year to house an inmate. Do the math. $15,000, x lets say, 100 years….adds up to a ton of money.. Wouldn’t it be a money saving thing to give him a chance of instant death instead? Like I previously stated, don’t mean to come off heartless and shallow here..