Two Colorado district attorneys slammed Gov. Jared Polis in a letter, saying he undercut the justice system by reducing the 110-year prison sentence of Rogel Aguilera-Mederos to 10 years after the truck driver was convicted of killing four people in a crash on Interstate 70 in 2019.

The five-page letter was sent by district attorneys Michael Dougherty of Boulder County and Daniel Rubenstein of Mesa County on Jan. 20. In addition to criticizing the “too lenient” 10-year sentence, the letter raised issue with Polis’ decision to grant Aguilera-Mederos commutation while the court was actively reconsidering the sentence.

“You chose to intervene in a pending case, thereby undermining the integrity and confidence that Coloradans place in the justice system,” the letter said. “By acting when and how you did, you undercut the community’s trust in District Attorney (Alexis) King and the justice system of our entire state.”

Aguilera-Mederos, 26, received the lengthy sentence on Dec. 13 due to mandatory minimum sentencing laws that require sentences to run consecutively, rather than at the same time. Shortly after, a petition calling for the governor to grant Aguilera-Mederos clemency garnered over 5 million signatures. The movement caught the attention of celebrities like Kim Kardashian West who tweeted at Polis, asking him to “do the right thing.”

Gov. Jared Polis commutes sentence of Rogel Aguilera-Mederos from 110 years to 10 years.

During the fatal crash, Aguilera-Mederos’ brakes failed while he was driving 85 mph in a 45 mph zone. Prosecutors said Aguilera-Mederos was riding his brakes and didn’t use a runaway truck ramp several miles before the crash.

Jefferson County District Attorney Alexis King announced a resentencing hearing for the case less than two weeks later, saying she intended to seek a reduced sentence of 20 to 30 years. Polis shortened Aguilera-Mederos’ sentence on Dec. 30, two weeks before the resentencing hearing was scheduled to occur.

“Sentences should be influenced by the facts and circumstances, not by petitions, online surveys, or tweets,” the letter said. “In the flurry of tweets and online petitions, it seemed as though the victims were forgotten by the masses taking up a cause they knew little about.”

In the letter, Dougherty said Polis’ decision is having “a substantial ripple effect” in other cases. Dougherty said he is prosecuting a case where a family member sexually assaulted a little girl. The plea offer is eight years in prison, but the defense attorney argued the offer is excessive since someone who killed four people only got 10 years.

After the letter was released Tuesday, other district attorneys spoke out in agreement. Denver District Attorney Beth McCann said she supports the letter and John Kellner, 18th judicial district attorney, called Polis’ decision “disrespectful” to the victims. King said Polis acted prematurely and the trial judge was in the best position to reconsider the sentence “as the victims and survivors wanted.”

In contrast, Ian Farrell, a law professor at the University of Denver, said Polis’ decision was an attempt to protect the public’s trust in the justice system after the original 110-year sentence “brought the Colorado criminal justice system into disrepute.”

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“The original sentence damaged Colorado’s reputation not only nationally but worldwide,” Farrell said. “The Colorado criminal system was hemorrhaging integrity and legitimacy; the Governor acted appropriately in stemming the flow sooner rather than later.”

Farrell said the district attorneys’ outrage at the 10-year sentence shows they are “out of touch with the Colorado community’s values, morals and standards.”

In addition, he blamed the original prosecutors for deliberately charging Aguilera-Mederos with so many offenses, knowing that Colorado’s mandatory minimum sentencing laws would result in an inappropriately long sentence. Farrell said this is a common tactic used to try to scare defendants into taking a plea deal and giving up their right to a trial by jury.

“Prosecutors themselves are primarily responsible for undermining the legitimacy, integrity and credibility of the Colorado judicial system,” Farrell said. “So called ‘charge stacking’ like this is a common practice, and zealously defended by Colorado DAs, of which this letter is but one example.”

Aguilera-Mederos was convicted of 27 counts — including vehicular homicide, assault and attempted assault — for the crash that involved 28 vehicles and killed 24-year-old Miguel Angel Lamas Arellano, 67-year-old William Bailey, 61-year-old Doyle Harrison and 69-year-old Stanley Politano.

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Criminal defense lawyer Tim Bussey agreed that Polis’ actions will not cause any problems in the criminal justice system. He said the governor rarely gets involved in criminal cases and it is clear that the case was an unusual circumstance that will not set a future precedent.

“There’s always going to be comparisons of cases. That doesn’t mean (the district attorney) has to act upon that,” Bussey said. “The defense attorney has an obligation to advocate for their client and the district attorney’s role is to do justice. … The district attorney can say, ‘This case has nothing to do with that one.’ And then, if they believe it is an injustice, they can take it (to) Gov. Polis later.”

Polis’ press secretary Conor Cahill echoed the rarity of the commutation, calling the 110-year sentence “bizarre” and a decision that “undermined confidence in our criminal justice system.” Cahill said Polis thoughtfully evaluated the new 10-year sentence and declined to consider granting Aguilera-Mederos a full pardon despite national calls to do so.

In his commutation letter to Aguilera-Mederos, Polis said Aguilera-Mederos was not blameless in the fatal crash, but his sentence was disproportionate compared with other sentences for people who committed intentional, premeditated or violent crimes.

“There was clearly an urgency to remedy this sentence and restore confidence in the uniformity and fairness of our criminal justice system,” Cahill said. “Let the punishment fit the crime is a basic (tenet) of justice, and Coloradans are relieved to know that the punishment now fits the crime in this case.”

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