This Wednesday Colorado judicial authorities revealed evidence that was presented to the jury in the case of the Latino trucker who killed four people in 2019 when his truck crashed on Colorado's I-70 freeway.
Among the unpublished material released by Colorado's First Judicial District are
thousands of pages, hundreds of never-before-seen photographs and videos of the first
police questioning of Aguilera-Mederos.
Image of the interrogation of truck driver Rogel Aguilera-Mederos, First Judicial District of Colorado
The video of the interrogation shows Aguilera-Mederos dressed in green, with his elbow and left hand bandaged, sitting at the desk in front of the detectives without the company of a lawyer.
["I would have preferred to die," says the Latino truck driver who caused a fatal tragedy on the Colorado highway from prison]
Agents ask him what time he got up that day and how many hours he drove a week.
Aguilera-Mederos responds: "They have to be between four or five days forced because we have to be 36 hours
off duty
[out of service]".
They also want to know about your immigration status.
Aguilera-Mederos, who is originally from Cuba, replies that he
had been living in the country for four years and three months
and that he has a
green card
or permanent residence.
The moment a semi-trailer truck crashes on Colorado's I-70 freeway on April 25, 2019, captured by a state trooper vehicle camera. Colorado's First Judicial District
The Latino driver, who had a commercial driver's license issued in Texas, said he had held it for 11 months before the crash.
He also told detectives that it was not the first time he had driven through the Colorado mountains, but the third.
And he assured that he had seen the signs for the emergency ramps, but not the ramps themselves.
"I thought I was going to die," Aguilera-Medera told detectives, as she explained that she had run out of brakes on the incline and did not know how to stop the truck going 85 miles per hour.
I thought I was going to die "
Rogel Aguilera-Mederos trucker
In one of the unpublished videos, taken from the camera of a state highway patrol, the semi-trailer truck that Aguilera-Mederos was driving is seen passing at high speed through the shoulder and seconds later a column of black smoke rises over the horizon.
Police reports indicate that the truck was found in such poor condition after the crash that it was impossible to carry out a full inspection of the vehicle.
Four Colorado citizens were killed in the accident: Doyle Harrison, 61;
William Bailey, 67;
Stanley Politano, 69;
and Miguel Lamas Arrellano, 24.
They ask not to forget the victims
Among the photographs that the judicial authorities revealed this Wednesday, is one that shows the burned keys of the car of Bill Bailey, who died after the accident when his car caught fire.
Bailey's relatives believe that the media attention that the Aguilera-Mederos trial attracted has diminished the visibility of the victims of the crash.
A photo of the car keys of Bill Bayley, one of the four fatalities in the Colorado I-70 freeway traffic accident on April 25, 2019, Colorado's First Judicial District
In an interview with Denver7, his younger brother, Duane, said he wants to make sure they are remembered for who they were and not how they died.
"He was such a good person. The smartest person I have ever met. I mean, I have almost no blame for him. He's funny. He wrote poetry. He was excellent at trivia. I just feel bad that his life has been shortened. to the point that no one seems to care or at least that's the impression I have, "he told the aforementioned media.
He would have preferred a 20-year sentence for Aguilera, although he assured that he would have respected any decision of the judge.
In his opinion, Jones understood the case better than the governor, since he had seen all the evidence.
Controversy over the commutation of the sentence
The material was made public amid a difference of opinion between the governor, Jared Polis, and the judge who handled the case, Bruce Jones, as reported by The Denver Channel.
On December 30, Polis reduced the sentence of Aguilera-Mederos, who had originally been sentenced to 110 years in prison, by 100 years.
Colorado Governor reduces Latino trucker's sentence from 110 to 10 years in jail
Dec. 30, 202100: 58
The governor's decision came amid the outrage that the lengthy sentence unleashed among much of the public, but it upset the magistrate because of how it affected the accused's judicial process.
[Latino trucker sentenced to 110 years in prison gets more than 2 million signatures to have his sentence commuted]
Before the commutation of the sentence, the prosecution was preparing to request a reduction of the sentence, to fix it in 20 or 30 years.
However, the hearing scheduled to discuss it was canceled after the governor's action.
When Judge Jones ordered the hearing to be canceled, he noted that the governor's office had never arrived at his desk and that he had learned of his order from the news, but not through official media.
"The court respects the governor's authority to commute the sentence," Jones wrote, according to the quoted outlet.
"[But] based on the moment that was chosen to make the decision, it seems that this respect is not mutual," he added.
