Rogel Aguilera-Mederos’ prison sentence slashed after outcry from Kim Kardashian
Kim Kardashian’s budding legal career has helped a man have his 110-year prison sentence dramatically reduced after killing four people in a car crash.
A truck driver spending 110 years in prison had his sentence reduced to 10 years after the ruling drew widespread public outrage, including from Kim Kardashian.
Rogel Aguilera-Mederos was found guilty for a 2019 crash that killed four people in Colorado. The 26-year-old was driving a semi-truck when he lost control of his brakes and was unable to avoid traffic that was backed up, hitting 28 vehicles.
The trucker was convicted of 27 criminal charges including multiple vehicular homicides, and a judge handed down a 110-year sentence, which he said was the mandatory minimum under Colorado law.
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Colorado Governor Jared Polis granted Aguilera-Mederos clemency and will be eligible to apply for parole in 2026.
“The length of your 110-year sentence is simply not commensurate with your actions, nor with penalties handed down to others for similar crimes,” he wrote in a letter to Aguilera-Mederos.
“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.”
More than 4.5 million people, including Kardashian, called to shorten Aguilera-Mederos’ punishment. The reality star, who is studying law, took to social media that she heard about the trial and “took a deep dive in it to figure out what the situation is”.
“He was not drunk or under the influence; his brakes on the tractor-trailer failed,” she said.
“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.”
The Keeping Up With The Kardashians star added that Governor Polis, “is a really good person and I know he will do the right thing.”
This is not the first time the TV personality has been vocal about criminal justice. She previously persuaded Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt to spare the life of Julius Jones, a prisoner who had been scheduled to be executed for a murder he denies committing.
Jones was sentenced to death in 2002 for the 1999 murder of businessman Paul Howell, and was to die by lethal injection.
Kardashian along with other celebrities were convinced of his innocence.
“Thank you so much Governor Stitt for commuting Julius Jones sentence to life without parole and stopping his execution today,” Kardashian tweeted.
– With AFP
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