Millions sign petition calling for trucker’s 110-year sentence to be reduced

Over four million people have signed a petition asking for a truck driver’s 110-year prison sentence to be shortened following his conviction over a fatal accident.

Rogel Aguilera-Mederos was driving a truck that crashed into several cars and killed four people in Colorado in 2019.

The petition, posted on Change.org, calls on Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) to grant the driver “clemency or commutation-as time served,” noting that the then-23-year-old had nothing on his driving record and no criminal history.

“This accident was not intentional, nor was it a criminal act on the drivers (sic) part. No one but the trucking company he is/was employed by should be held accountable for this accident,” it said.

Aguilera-Mederos has said malfunctioning brakes caused the crash, but prosecutors argued that the driver was at fault for decisions like not steering the truck to a runaway ramp, according to The New York Times.

In October, a jury found Aguilera-Mederos guilty of 27 counts including vehicular homicide and vehicular assault, and in December, the now 26-year-old driver was sentenced to 110 years in prison, the Times reported. 

“If I had the discretion, it would not be my sentence,” Jefferson County District Judge Bruce Jones said, adding that he had “no desire” to sentence Aguilera-Mederos to life in prison, according to Reuters.

However, Colorado state law requires that time for each count to be served consecutively, not concurrently.