'VERY SAD LIFE'
A TRUCK driver, whose 110-year sentence for a multi-fatal crash in 2019 was reduced, said he wished he died instead of the four victims, reports say.
Governor Jared Polis commuted the lengthy prison sentence of truck driver Rogel Aguilera-Mederos, 26, to 10 years with the eligibility for parole after five years following public outcry over the state's mandatory sentencing laws.
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The sentence reduction was little solace for Aguilera-Mederos, who told he wished he died instead of Miguel Angel Lamas Arellano, 24; Doyle Harrison, 61; Stanley Politano, 69; and William Bailey, 67.
"My life is not a happy life," he told the local CBS outlet. "It is a very sad life because four people died."
Among the millions who advocated for Aguilera-Mederos was Kim Kardashian West, who said in a series of tweets before his sentence was commuted that "He was not drunk or under the influence, his brakes on the semi tractor-trailer failed.
"Another shocking and unfair part of this case is that the judge didn’t want to sentence him to such a lengthy sentence.
"However, because of the mandatory minimums in Colorado, his hands were tied. Mandatory minimums take away judicial discretion and need to end."
More than 4.5 million people signed a petition to the governor to commute Aguilera-Mederos' sentence and said he was a victim of the state's mandatory sentencing.
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The 26-year-old truck said his brakes malfunctioned before the crash that claimed the four lives and injured dozes more.
Prosecutors said he missed a truck ramp that could have prevented the crash and was found guilty in October for dangerously driving a vehicle.
The governor announced the news Thursday and said the sentencing was disproportionate for a "tragic but unintentional act."
"The length of your 110-year sentence is simply not commensurate with your actions, nor with penalties handed down to others for similar crimes," Polis said in the letter, which was shared on .
"There 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."
"We believe justice has finally come to light for Rogel," Aguilera-Mederos' lawyer James Colgan told CBS Denver.
"Unfortunately, you know, there's people, there's victims in this case and we feel for those people and their families. But as it relates to Rogel and the justice system that, that he's had to deal with, we feel grateful."
'BRAKES FAILED'
Aguilera-Mederos' was driving a semi tractor-trailer at 85 mph when his brakes failed, he told investigators in April 2019.
He tried to pull over to the shoulder to avoid stopped traffic on the highway, but another semi had already pulled over, his arrest affidavit said.
Aguilera-Mederos' truck resulted in a 28-car pileup that left four people dead on the Colorado highway.
He was found guilty in October and was convicted on vehicular homicide and 23 other charges, and was sentenced last week.
The 23 other charges included six counts of assault in the first degree, under extreme indifference, and 10 counts of attempt to commit assault in the first degree, again under extreme indifference.
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He also had two counts of reckless vehicular assault, one count of reckless driving, and four counts of careless driving causing death.
Experts said because Colorado did away with its death penalty, life in prison is the harshest punishment allowed.
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