Man sentenced to 110 years in prison may get another chance in court

First Judicial District Attorney Alexis King filed a motion on Friday to have the 110-year sentence of Rogel Lazaro Aguilera-Mederos reconsidered.

In 2019, Aguilera-Mederos was driving a semi-truck along I-70 when his brakes went out. He crashed into traffic ahead of him causing the death of four people, injuring several others. The crash damaged or destroyed 28 vehicles along the highway near Lakewood. 

The incident started a large fire that shut down the highway for 24-hours in both directions. 

Aguilera-Mederos was charged with 27 counts to include four counts of vehicular homicide, six counts of first-degree assault, 10 counts of attempt to commit assault in the first degree- extreme indifference, two counts of vehicular assault- reckless, one count of reckless driving, four counts of careless driving causing death.

On Monday, Aguilera-Mederos was sentenced by a Jefferson County judge to 110 years in prison to be carried out consecutively. 

As of Tuesday, more than 4.5 million people signed a petition asking Gov. Jared Polis to grant Aguilera-Mederos clemency or commutation.

On Friday, King filed a motion asking the court to set a hearing to reconsider Aguilera-Mederos sentence. 

The motion states, “As Colorado law required the imposition of the sentence in this case, the law also permits the Court to reconsider its sentence in an exceptional case involving unusual and extenuating circumstances. The People brought this option to the Court’s attention at the initial sentencing. C.R.S. 18-1.3-406(1)(a) permits this review after the receipt of a report on the defendant’s diagnosis and evaluation. Now that the Defendant has been sentenced, the People again request the Court set a hearing as soon as practicable upon the receipt of the report. Consistent with the People and the Court’s obligation under the Victim Rights Amendment, the People have begun conferring with the victims, in this case, to obtain and consider their input in advance of the Court’s hearing and notify them of the date determined by the Court. The People intend to file supplemental information prior to the hearing.”

Aguilera-Mederos passed a runaway truck ramp along I-70 after the brakes failed on his semi-truck. This point was focused on during the trial. 

Aguilera-Mederos said, during the trial, that he struggled to get the truck into gear when he lost his brakes. 

CBS Denver reported that the judge acknowledged that Aguilera-Mederos did not intend to harm anyone, however, the judge was bound by the guidelines set by the law to set Aguilera-Mederos’ sentence for no less than 110 years.

“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.