Truck driver Roger Aguilera-Madros is expected to serve a decade in prison for an April 2019 accident in which four people were killed in Colorado, but that is far less than the 110 years that were applied to his original sentence.
And justice is better conducted in the process.
Discussions on “nuclear judgments” usually focus on cases where vehicle fleets are forced to pay a crippling prize of millions of dollars to a jury after a collision, mostly because the jurors want to send a message to the wider trucking industry. Above all else, they are looking someone Pay for injustice.
Like many of these cases, the idea of imposing a sentence of more than a hundred years behind the bars of this truck driver was illogical on any scale. Aguilera-Madros’ actions were unplanned. He did not intentionally assault anyone in a criminal act. He said his brakes failed at the mountain level when he entered traffic on I-70 in Lakewood.
But the price in human life was enormous. Miguel Angel Lames Arlano, 24; William Bailey, 67; Doyle Harrison, 61; Stanley Politano, 69, is dead.
The court itself had no choice in enforcing the judgment. The 26-year-old driver was convicted of 27 charges, including four counts of vehicle murder. Prosecutors have proven he ignored the speed limit of 45 mph and rolled to the right next to the ramp of a getaway truck. The state’s punitive guidelines meanwhile require consecutive penalties.
According to a Reuters report, Judge A. Bruce Jones said it would not be the punishment if he had discretion. Even the plaintiffs sought a lower sentence of 20 to 30 years. And more than 5 million people have signed a petition on change.org, arguing against the heavy punishment.
Fortunately, cooler heads won. The governor of Colorado, Jared Polis, ruled that the sentence was unjust, converted it to 10 years and made Aguilera-Madros eligible for parole in December 2026.
“Sentenced to 110 years in prison, in fact more than a life sentence, for a tragic but unintentional act,” Polis said in a letter dated Dec. 30. “Although you are not innocent, your punishment is disproportionate compared to many other inmates in our criminal justice system who have committed intentional, premeditated or violent crimes.
“Four people lost their lives and others were seriously injured because of your bad decisions. These families of victims will never have another opportunity to embrace their lost loved ones. It was a tragic event that affected many Coloradoans,” Polis said. “Although your actions caused immense pain, I am encouraged by your personal reflection and the safety changes in the commercial vehicle made in the wake of this tragedy to ensure that such an event does not recur.”
The claim that such events will never happen again does push things too far – just as the drums in the brakes overheat. But measures have emerged to help treat Some From the root causes behind the crash.
The Colorado Department of Public Safety now uses in-taxi alerts to notify truck drivers on steep stairs and locations where escaping truck ramps and brake checks can be found. New test tools along I-70 corridor are being used to help detect overheating brakes when there is still time to make a difference.
That’s really what the justice system is meant to do, isn’t it? Punishments imposed are intended to punish people guilty of loss, and to deter others from future wrongs. They are meant to serve as lessons and warnings for the following.
Aguilera-Madros pays a personal price for the losses that happened while he was behind the wheel. But the best way to serve the memories of those who died in this tragic crash is to commit to lasting change, and a reasonable sentence is part of it.