Petition Receives Over 4 Million Signatures To Have Trucker's 110-Year Sentence Changed

Dec 21, 2021 by apost team

A petition on the popular website change.org has received a whopping 4.3 million signatures to reduce Rogel Aguilera-Mederos's 110-year sentence. Aguilera-Mederos is the semi-truck driver who was behind a deadly 28-car pileup in Colorado in April 2019, which led to the deaths of four people and caused immense damage overall. While the crash was deadly for others, Aguilera-Mederos walked away from the site with minor injuries. 

Aguilera-Mederos was a 23-year-old Cuban immigrant and Texas resident at the time of the accident and was sentenced in December 2021 on 24 charges, which included vehicular homicide. However, many people who are signing the petition argue that such severe punishment is not required and that Aguilera-Mederos did not cause the accident on purpose. 

Aguilera-Mederos told the court that his brakes failed and that he even attempted to avoid a collision by pulling over to the shoulder. Unfortunately, another semi-truck had already stopped there and he could not pull to the side. The crash happened as he passed one of the state's runaway truck ramps.

The severity of his sentence and the different counts he has been charged with has caused outrage across Colorado as well as across the United States, and the petition states that "this tragic accident wasn't done with Intent, it wasnt a criminal act, it was an accident." The petition was started three years ago but gained more traction recently after Aguilera-Mederos's sentencing. The number of signatures makes this petition one of the top signed petitions ever on change.org. Read on to learn more about different people's reactions to the judge's decision. 

NPR reported that in October 2021, a jury found Aguilera-Mederos guilty of vehicular homicide and 23 other charges, including six counts of first-degree assault, 10 counts of attempt to commit assault in the first degree, two counts of vehicular assault, one count of reckless driving and four counts of careless driving. In December 2021, he was given the minimum sentence available on all counts which were to be served consecutively, totaling 110 years in prison. However, the people signing the petition and others have disagreed with the severity of the sentence. 

Bruce Jones, the district judge in the case, told CBS Denver that did not believe Aguilera-Mederos deserved life in prison but that Colorado law requires sentences for each count to be served consecutively instead of concurrently. "If I had the discretion, it would not be my sentence," Jones said. 

Along with stating that Aguilera-Mederos did not cause an accident on purpose, the petition added that he has no criminal history, passed all of his drug and alcohol tests and "complied with every single request" by case investigators and the courts. 

Aguilera-Mederos has also found support among other truckers, who have been threatening to stop moving goods to and from Colorado, using hashtags like #NoTrucksColorado and #DontDriveColorado to spread awareness on social media according to ABC7. 

When asked about how his case is being handled, NPR reported that a spokesperson for Polis told them over email that the governor's office is "aware of this issue." The spokesperson also added, "The Governor and his team review each clemency application individually and we welcome an application from Rogel Lazaro Aguilera-Mederos and will expedite consideration but have not received one yet at this time."

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What do you think about the support for Rogel Lazaro Aguilera-Mederos? Do you agree that the sentence should be reduced? Tell us your thoughts, and be sure to ask your friends what they think about it as well.