A Colorado district court judge has scheduled truck driver Rogel Aguilera-Mederos to a hearing for Jan. 13 that aims to reconsider the suspect's lengthy 110-year prison sentence after he was convicted in an interstate crash that resulted in the death of four people.
The situation also comes as a petition for the reduction of the individual's sentence has gained the support of millions of people, calling the sentence excessive. First Judicial District Attorney Alexis King said that her office was looking to recommend a reduced sentence that would keep the suspect for about 20 to 30 years, less than a third of the original sentence.
Trucker Scheduled for Resentencing
Judge A. Bruce Jones, at a status hearing on Monday, sought to resolve procedural questions given the unprecedented nature of Aguilera-Mederos's case. In which, the prosecution initiated the request for a lower sentence, rather than the defense. The trial has drawn widespread attention due to the length of the sentence.
On one hand, Jones said that he was unable to change the length of time that he sentenced the suspect because of state sentencing guidelines. Both the prosecution and the defense said at a Monday hearing that they wanted to ensure any resentencing decisions during the new trial will not interfere with the defendant's right to appeal, CNN reported.
King said that the jury found the suspect to have knowingly made multiple active choices that resulted in the death of four people, serious injuries to others, and mass destruction. However, he said that the planned reduced sentence was a sentencing range that reflected an "appropriate outcome" for the suspect's conduct.
Mandatory Minimum Sentence
It was on Dec. 13 when District Court Judge Jones imposed the 110-year sentence against the suspect after it was found that it was the mandatory minimum term set forth under state law. During the hearing, he said that if he had the discretion, he would not be giving Aguilera-Mederos that lengthy of a sentence.
While Colorado law allows for sentences for crimes deemed violent to be modified in a case with "unusual and extenuating circumstances," they cannot take effect until after 119 days since the suspect enters prison, Fox News reported.
Jones said that one of his concerns for the new hearing would be people trying to turn it into a "circus." He said that he would immediately call for the person's removal from the courtroom if there were any outbursts in the courtroom.
While the judge said that he preferred to hold the hearing in person, he also wanted it to be available online. Jones anticipated that they would be doing it in person unless the coronavirus situation changed his mind.
In his defense, Aguilera-Mederos said that the brakes of the truck that he was driving malfunctioned while he was traveling through Interstate 70. However, videos captured the incident and showed that he may have missed a runaway truck ramp along the highway that prosecutors said he could still have reached.
The victims of the fatal crash were identified as 24-year-old Miguel Angel Lamas Arellano, 61-year-old Doyle Harrison, 69-year-old Stanley Politano, and 67-year-old William Bailey. Gage Evans, the wife of Bailey, said that while she believed the sentence should not be commuted, sentencing laws should be reviewed due to the excessive length of prison time given to the suspect, Yahoo News reported.
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