A petition with more than 4.7 million signatures has been circulating online in an effort to lessen the prison sentence of 26-year-old Rogel Lazaro Aguilera-Mederos, who was sentenced to 110 years of jail time last week. Aguilera-Mederos was convicted after losing control of the truck he was driving and killing four people in the crash in 2019.
The trucker was driving on Interstate 70 in Lakewood, Colorado, when the incident happened.
The then 23-year-old was descending from the mountains on I-70 on April 25, 2019, when he lost control of his 18-wheeler, according to CBS 4.
Valerie Robertson Young was there that day, and she told KDVR that she’d just hung up the phone when she saw something terrifying.
“Looked in the mirror and saw a truck coming fast,” she said.
It was Aguilera-Mederos, and his truck was barreling down the highway.
"Next thing I know, he hit us,” she recalled. “Huge fire.”
Young scrambled to get out of her car and managed to get a photo of the fireball that exploded as Aguilera-Mederos crashed into more than two dozen stopped vehicles and four tractor-trailers.
People noted that at the time, his vehicle was carting lumber. The crash led to the interstate being closed in both directions for 24 hours, CBS 4 reported.
The crash injured 10 people and killed four others.
The victims were later identified as 24-year-old Miguel Lamas Arrellano, 67-year-old William Bailey, 61-year-old Doyle Harrison, and 69-year-old Stanley Politano, People stated.
Young told KDVR that after the crash, Aguilera-Mederos came up to her and asked to use her cellphone.
“He just kept saying, ‘I gotta get out of here. I can’t go to jail,'” she recalled.
Aguilera-Mederos told police the crash happened as the result of failing brakes. But BBC News reported that prosecutors in his case believed that even with malfunctioning brakes, Aguilera-Mederos failed to help the situation. They accused him of dangerously weaving between vehicles and pointed out that he drove past at least one runaway truck ramp — the long lanes on the sides of roads designed for vehicles with brake problems to drive into and stop safely.
Aguilera-Mederos was eventually taken into police custody, and in October 2021 he was found guilty of 27 criminal counts, including four counts of vehicular homicide, noted a second report from People.
Aguilera-Mederos was sentenced to 110 years in prison on December 13.
Judge A. Bruce Jones acknowledged that they understood that Aguilera-Mederos meant no harm in the crash but state law required that he sentence him to consecutive sentences.
"If I had the discretion, if I thought I had the discretion, I would not run those sentences consecutively," Jones said, according to People.
"I accept and respect what the defendant has said about his lack of intent to hurt people, but he made a series of terrible decisions, reckless decisions,” Jones added.
Aguilera-Mederos broke down in tears during his sentencing.
"I know it has been hard and heartbreaking for everyone involved," he said. "I can't sleep. I think all the time about the victims. A part of me will be missing forever, as well.
"I have never thought about hurting anyone in my entire life,” he continued. “I hope to say sorry, sorry for the loss, sorry for the people in here, I know they hurt. I know they have trauma, I know. I feel that. But please don't be angry with me, please."
After the sentencing, his story touched millions of people who thought 110 years in prison was way too harsh.
A petition on Change.org has accumulated millions of signatures. Its creator, Heather Gilbee, explained that she launched the campaign because she believed that Aguilera-Mederos’ sentence was unfair.
She noted that he “has nothing on his driving record, or on his criminal history.”
“He had complied with every single request by the Jefferson County courts, and investigators on the case,” she continued in the petition. He's “passed all of the drug and alcohol tests that were given including a chemical test. This accident was not intentional, nor was it a criminal act on the drivers part.”
Gilbee argues that it was the trucking company Aguilera-Mederos worked for that should be held accountable.
“The trucking company has had several inspections since 2017, with several mechanical violations,” she claimed in the petition before praising Aguilera-Mederos for trying to make amends with the families of the victims he killed.
“Some of the families even offered forgiveness,” she wrote.
Kim Kardashian has even gotten involved with the case, asking for clemency on Twitter.
“Colorado law really has to be changed and this is so unfair. @GovofCO is a really good person and I know he will do the right thing,” she tweeted on December 21.
On December 17, First Judicial District Attorney Alexis King filed a motion requesting the court "reconsider its sentence," according to People. The motion noted that Aguilera-Mederos was a Cuban immigrant. A second motion was filed the next day, requesting an expedited hearing.
Although Colorado law has played a major part in Aguilera-Mederos’ sentencing, the law does permit for sentences to be reconsidered "in an exceptional case involving unusual and extenuating circumstances," King’s motion read.
Gov. Jared Polis confirmed December 20 that his office received an application for clemency from Aguilera-Mederos’ lawyer.
The governor said his legal team is reviewing the application, 9 News reported.
“When we have a decision, we'll announce it,” he told a reporter in Spanish.
Crash victim Young told KDVR that she believes Aguilera-Mederos should serve the full 110 years that he was sentenced to — or at least half.
“I had to watch those four men burn alive,” she recalled through tears. “That’s not something I’m ever gonna forget.”
But his lawyer, Leonard Martinez, told the news outlet that he believes clemency is warranted.
“Here’s a kid that woke up that morning with one purpose in mind and that is to work and provide for his family and had no malintent to have this accident or injure anybody that day,” he said, “let alone have four people killed.”
A hearing could be set for as soon as Friday or Monday, People reported.
