The truck driver responsible for a fiery pileup on Colorado's I-70 that killed four in 2019 was sentenced to 110 years in prison Monday.
Judge A. Bruce Jones said he was bound by minimum sentencing laws and granted Rogel Aguilera-Mederos, 26, the lightest sentence for each of his 27 convictions on 42 charges, which included four counts of vehicular homicide, reckless driving, and first-degree assault.
“I will state that if I had the discretion, it would not be my sentence,” Jones said.
Aguilera-Mederos pleaded not guilty and maintained that the crash was caused by a malfunction with the brakes on his semi-truck as he came downhill on the mountain highway and crashed into stopped traffic at 85 mph. The jury held that he could have mitigated the damage by pulling off at a runaway truck ramp.
"I'm dying. It is hard to live with this trauma," he said during tearful testimony at the sentencing hearing. "I can't sleep. 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."
“I accept and respect what the defendant has said about his lack of intent to hurt people, but he made a series of terrible decisions, reckless decisions," the judge said.
The families of victims also testified at the sentencing hearing, with Duane Bailey, the brother of casualty William Bailey, saying he hoped for a sentence of at least 20 years, but not life in prison.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“There are no winners here, judge,” said defense attorney James Colgan. “No one wins, no matter what. We have a courtroom full of broken lives … It’s just tragic. There is no other way to put it.”
A Change.org petition asking Colorado Gov. Jared Polis to commute Aguilera-Mederos's sentence had over 180,000 signatures as of Wednesday morning.
The April 2019 crash involved dozens of vehicles that caught fire, leaving six people wounded in addition to the four who died. The eastbound lane of one of Colorado's vital highways was closed for over a day.