▲ Rogel Aguilera Mederos herself speaking in court
A freight truck driver who was sentenced to 110 years in prison after injuring 10 people in a car accident in Colorado in 2019 has been commuted to a whopping 100 years in prison.
On December 31, local time, CNN and other foreign media reported that Colorado Governor Jared Police reduced the sentence of the accused Laurel Aguilera Mederos (26) from 110 years in prison to 10 years in prison, which can be considered for parole after 5 years. .
Two years ago, on April 25, 2019, Mederos, who was working as an employee for a Texas transportation company, was driving a truck on Interstate 70 in Lakewood, Colorado, when a malfunctioning brake caused a multi-collision accident.
▲ The scene of the accident
The accident resulted in the death of 4 people and injuries to 6 people.
At the trial, a Colorado jury found Mederos guilty of all 27 charges against Mederos, including reckless driving and reckless driving, including murder. The court sentenced him to 110 years in prison.
However, after the ruling, public opinion that the 110-year prison sentence was 'excessive' in the Colorado law began to pour in.
The reason was the mandatory minimum sentencing. Colorado state law requires that each conviction be subject to a mandatory minimum sentence, but Mederos, who was convicted on a total of 27 counts, inevitably received an excessive sentence.
Judge Bruce Jones, who was in charge of the trial, also said, "Mederos did not cause the accident on purpose."
In response, citizens opened an online petition and demanded "reconsideration of the punishment of truck drivers," and the petition has become a hot topic with over 4.5 million people participating by the afternoon of the 21st.
Those who took part in the petition called for a commuter sentence for Mederos, saying, "Reprove the trucking company for using the problematic equipment, not the drivers in their 20s" and "The trucking company is responsible for the tragedy."
Some truck drivers also protested the ruling, stopping their trucks on the highway leading to Colorado and boycotting them.
In the end, prosecutors made an unusual request to the court to reduce Mederos' sentence, which, with the help of the governor, led to the court's decision to reduce his sentence.
Broadcaster Kim Kardashian, who took the lead in calling for Mederos' sentence commutation, tweeted, "This case is a clear example of why the minimum sentence requirement should be repealed. Thank you for your performance.”
"Mederos was very happy to hear this," said James Colegan, a lawyer who defended Mederos.
This is a 'news pick'.
(Photo=CNN YouTube capture)