Truck driver’s 110-year sentence reduced after US outcry

AFP
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Kim Kardashian 2019 Creative Arts Emmy Awards - Arrivals
Kim Kardashian West attends the 2019 Creative Arts Emmy Awards on September 14, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Amy Sussman/Getty Images)
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Los Angeles (AFP) โ€“ A truck driver whose 110 year sentence over a deadly crash sparked outrage had his jail term reduced to ten years on Thursday.

More than 4.5 million people, including reality TV star Kim Kardashian, called for a reduction in Rogel Aguilera-Mederosโ€˜ punishment, which the judge handing it down noted was the result of mandatory sentencing rules in the US state of Colorado.

Aguilera-Mederos, a Cuban immigrant, was transporting timber in April 2019 when his brakes failed on a downhill stretch, and he did not use an emergency exit ramp.

His out-of-control truck plowed into traffic, killing four people and injuring several others.

Aguilera-Mederos was found guilty by a jury on 27 counts including multiple vehicular homicides, and a judge handed down a 110-year sentence, which he said was the mandatory minimum under Colorado law.

Colorado Governor Jared Polis on Thursday acted to cut what he said was an โ€œarbitrary and unjustโ€ outcome.

โ€œThe length of your 110-year sentence is simply not commensurate with your actions, nor with penalties handed down to others for similar crimes,โ€ he wrote in a letter to Aguilera-Mederos.

โ€œThere is an urgency to remedy this unjust sentence and restore confidence in the uniformity and fairness of our criminal justice system, and consequently I have chosen to commute your sentence now.โ€

Aguilera-Mederos will be eligible to apply for parole in five years.