By
The Associated Press
The federal prosecutor's office that prosecuted a truck driver sentenced to 110 years in prison for a collision that killed four people in a Denver suburb will request a reduced sentence to 20 or 30 years.
Jefferson County US Attorney Alexis King said in a statement Thursday that she will ask the judge during a hearing Monday to re-sentence Rogel Aguilera Mederos, 26, for the April 25, 2019 road disaster. on Interstate 70, west of Denver.
["The punishment does not fit the crime": what chances does the truck driver sentenced to 110 years have that his sentence will be reduced]
"As determined by the jury, Mr. Aguilera Mederos knowingly made several active decisions that resulted in the death of four people, serious injuries to others, and mass destruction," King said.
"This scope of the sentence reflects an appropriate outcome for that conduct, which was not an accident."
Federal court Judge Bruce Jones imposed the sentence on Dec. 13 on Aguilera Mederos after noting that it was the mandatory minimum provided in state law.
"I will say that if I had the discretion, it would not be my sentence," said the judge at the hearing.
"They are killing me in life," says the Hispanic sentenced to 110 years in prison.
This is how his mother tells it
Dec. 17, 202103: 27
Aguilera Mederos, who was convicted in October of vehicular manslaughter and other charges, testified that the brakes on his cargo truck failed before it rammed into several vehicles that had slowed due to another accident.
The prosecution said that Aguilera Mederos must have used an emergency ramp designed for such situations.
["I would have preferred to die," says the Latino truck driver who caused a fatal tragedy on the Colorado highway from prison]
Aguilera Mederos supporters point out that the 110-year sentence is deeply unjust, and various truckers in the country have made his cause their own and use hashtags such as #NoTrucksToColorado and #NoTrucksColorado.
