Rogel Aguilera-Mederos he is Cuban. He is 26 years old and worked as a truck driver. Just days ago, was sentenced to 110 years in prison, after being identified as responsible for an accident in Colorado in 2019, in which 28 vehicles were damaged and four people died.
Aguilera stated that the brakes went off, and found a traffic stopper for another collision, so he decided to throw himself towards the shoulder trying not to collide with other vehicles.
He was convicted of 42 countsincluding reckless driving, careless driving, vehicular manslaughter, first degree assault, attempted first degree assault, and vehicular assault.
A. Bruce Jones, Case Judge, said that he did not intend to send the Hispanic to prison for life, but that I couldn’t do more by the mandates of state laws.
Indignation
In Change.org is petitioning for clemency or commutation of sentence for time served. And that request has been endorsed and signed by around three million people.
“Has complied with each and every request of the courts Jefferson County and investigators on the case. He passed every drug and alcohol test, including a chemical test. This accident it was not intentional nor was it a criminal act by the driver, ”the petition states.
In addition, among those who have raised their voices in defense of the Hispanic driver, considering that the sentence he was given is “unfair” are several personalities.
The Denver Post, one of the most influential in Colorado, joined those pleading for mercy. In an editorial, he asked Governor Jared Polis for a review of the case. so that the sentence is reduced to “something more reasonable”.
“Aguilera-Mederos actually killed four people and seriously injured others in a tragic and preventable accident. But we believe there is an important distinction that the law, as written, did not allow jurors or the judge to make: the 26-year-old I was not drunk.
“I was not intentionally driving recklessly because I was in a rush or because of an emotion or because I was running from the police. He wasn’t even full of road rage when his truck sped down Interstate 70 out of control. Rather, a tool that Aguilera-Mederos used to work, failed”Says the Denver Post editorial.
“This case is so egregious. It puzzles me that here we are in 2021 and that someone who was not drunk, who was not drugged… It’s an accident, his brakes failed. But here is the Latino driver, he is accused and sentenced to 110 years for his first offense ”.
The statement is from Domingo García, president of the Latino civil rights organization LULAC.
A long way
His lawyer, James Colgan said he would appeal the sentence. However, as he admitted in an interview with Telemundo, the road will not be short or easy.
“An appeal in a case like this could take a couple of years; it’s not something that will happen overnight. East is one of the biggest judicial errors that I have seen, that is why the case has had so much resonance ”.
The lawyer added that “a punishment has to fit the crime, and the punishment does not fit the crime in this case. Even if Aguilera-Mederos made mistakes, he shouldn’t have to pay with the rest of his life”.
“The problem with this appeal will not be the sentence itself. According the law, the court was not wrong. However, the law, as written, is barbaric and draconian.”, Assured the lawyer, on the other hand, to CNN.
Before the judge, the Hispanic driver pleaded: “I was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol. I was working and lost my brakes. I lost my brakes. ” An arrest affidavit states that the driver “thought he was going to die, so he closed his eyes before hitting stopped traffic.”
Colorado laws, which led to the lengthy sentence, state that the sentences for the crimes that were imposed are served consecutively, one after another.
There are legal avenues to fight the reduction of the sentence, but, as the Hispanic lawyer advanced, the road does not look easy or short.