NO WAY OUT

Over 4 Million Sign Petition to Commute Truck Driver’s 110-Year Sentence

The petition is now Change.org’s fastest-growing of the year, but the judge said his hands were tied.

More than 4 million people have signed an online petition pleading with Colorado Gov. Jared Polis to grant clemency or commute the 110-year prison sentence of the truck driver behind a fiery crash that killed four in 2019. Rogel Aguilera-Mederos, 26, was sentenced on Monday, two months after a jury found him guilty on 27 criminal counts. In 2019, Aguilera-Mederos’ lumber-hauling semi’s brakes failed and he careened into stopped traffic on Denver’s Interstate 70. Prosecutors argued at trial that Aguilera-Mederos had checked his brakes shortly before the crash, and had determined it was safe to continue. The defendant also passed at least one emergency ramp he could have used, according to video footage.

At least 28 cars were impacted by the crash, and at least six people were hospitalized with injuries. The Associated Press reported the blaze that followed the wreck engulfed several cars and “melted” sections of the highway. Judge A. Bruce Jones said he believed Aguilera-Mederos hadn’t meant to harm anyone, but that under mandatory sentencing law he did not have the discretion to set a lesser term. A Change.org spokesperson told FOX 31 that the petition in Aguilera-Mederos’ name was the platform’s fastest-growing of the year. A spokesperson for Governor Polis’ office said they “are aware of the issue.”