A recently released video shows family members of those killed in the I-70 wreck pushing back against the Governor’s decision to reduce the driver’s sentence.
Governor Jared Polis recently granted a reduction of truck driver Rogel Aguilera-Mederos’ sentence from 110 years to 10 years instead of allowing an already-scheduled reconsideration hearing to occur, and the families of those killed in the incident are not in support of this decision.
“It is my hope that this gives you some closure on this,” said Gov. Jared Polis during a Zoom call last Thursday.
“No, it doesn’t,” said one of the victims’ family members. “This is entirely political.”
“You are just victimizing us again,” said another person on the video call.
“The punishment that he receives will be what any Coloradan would normally receive for this type of crime on the severe end,” said Polis on the call.
The hearing to reconsider the sentence was scheduled for January 13th and was supported by the victims’ families, but the Governor’s commutation has led to the cancelation of that hearing.
“Why is waiting two weeks not the right thing to do?” another victim’s family member asked during the Zoom call.
“Well again, based on our last conversation, I would’ve done this last week, but I told you I’d wait past Monday, to see if the courts did anything. They didn’t,” said Polis.
“They set the date,” multiple people replied.
“OK,” said Polis.
“Why did you think that you should do this instead of passing on it? Why is it not the right thing to wait two weeks?” another family member asked.
“I’ll read that section of the paragraph — of the letter again,” said Polis.
“No. No. You’re not answering my question,” the victim’s family member said.
“I answered that very question,” said Polis.
It is still not clear exactly why the Governor chose not to wait for the reconsideration hearing.
Watch the video of the Zoom call on Youtube by clicking, below.