Truck Driver gets 110 years

[semperfi211]

No drugs or alcohol in his system. His brakes failed on a mountain. Do you think 110 years in prison is ridiculous?

Trucker's 110 year sentence for Colorado pile up sparks intense backlash: 'Miscarriage of justice'

Outrage is mounting after a truck driver was sentenced to 110 years in prison after he was found guilty in a 2019 Colorado crash that killed four people.

www.foxnews.com

 

[BehindBlueI's]

Out of curiosity, if the only thing that happened was his brakes went out, what were the 23 counts the jury found him guilty on? I've not followed the case.

110 years is longer than most intentional murders get. Just a guess, but I bet he ran afoul of mandatory minimums due to all the charges, especially if they must be served consecutively.

 

[Jaybird1980]

Is this the guy that didn't have a driver's license or CDL? Must be charges for not using the runway truck ramps also? Not sure how there are so many counts.

 

[semperfi211]

Truck driver sentenced to 110 years in Colorado wreck that killed 4

Rogel Aguilera-Mederos said his brakes were not working before his big rig slammed into stopped traffic on a highway, causing vehicles to burst into flames.

www.nbcnews.com

A jury in October found Aguilera-Mederos guilty of 27 counts, including four counts of vehicular homicide, six counts of assault in the first degree and 10 counts of attempt to commit assault in the first degree, some of which were subject to the sentencing rules.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

Is this the guy that didn't have a driver's license or CDL? Must be charges for not using the runway truck ramps also? Not sure how there are so many counts.

Quick attempt to find the PC found this little nugget:

John Doll, an investigator with the Jefferson County district attorney’s office, said Aguilera-Mederos was traveling back to Texas from Wyoming with a load of lumber on the day of the crash. A couple in Rand, a small town 50 miles south of the Wyoming border, told police a semitrailer matching the description of Aguilera-Mederos’ vehicle passed them in a no-passing zone as they approached a curve in the road. The truck was traveling around 70 mph to 80 mph in a 45 mph zone, the couple told investigators.

And it looks like he told investigators he looked down and was going 85 *before* he attempted to brake after turning into traffic, so it looks like the jury bought the negligent/recklessness argument. It's a long sentence, but not one I'm going to lose sleep over if he was running a semi like prior to a fatal crash.

 

[littletommy]

I’m kinda torn on this one. It seems harsh at a glance, but then, I don’t know all the details of the case. With that being said, if a family member or friend was one of the victims of this, I wouldn’t even bat an eye to hear this guy will draw his last breath in the big house.

 

[mom45]

My son-in-law is working on getting his CDL and was talking about this case this morning. If this guy didn't have a CDL, he shouldn't have been driving that truck to start with. There are so many semis on the road now that have foreign drivers who don't know the language, much less the rules of driving, and they are very dangerous. It does seem like a long time, but he took away several lives due to his choice to drive that truck. Many of the trucks I see them driving appear to be unsafe and not maintained very well. Bald tires, lights that don't work properly, etc.

If he ran into a bus full of children, would that make you feel differently about his sentence?

 

[Biggredchev]

If it was a real legitimate accident, yes its excessive. I dont know all the details so i cant say but im sure theres a reason behind the sentence.

 

[churchmouse]

No drugs or alcohol in his system. His brakes failed on a mountain. Do you think 110 years in prison is ridiculous?

Trucker's 110 year sentence for Colorado pile up sparks intense backlash: 'Miscarriage of justice'

Outrage is mounting after a truck driver was sentenced to 110 years in prison after he was found guilty in a 2019 Colorado crash that killed four people.

www.foxnews.com

If (as I read this) he had multiple opportunities to use the emergency break down ramps and did chose not to then yes, he is guilty as sin.
110 years is a bit stiff in my eyes but man, he in some offbeat way deliberately killed those people and caused a crap load of injury and property damage due to his poor judgment.

 

[The Bubba Effect]

The dude skipped the runaway ramps coming off the mountain into Denver and slammed into stopped traffic. The ramps were open. It is on him. Let him rot.

At least that is the story from what I remember. The rockies and a semi make for a serious situation.

 

[jake blue]

Quick recap: the facts in the case were that he was a newbie driver with little to no mountain driving experience, he was coming down a mountain grade reaching 85mph, and his defense was that his brakes failed. Now, anyone who knows how truck air brakes works knows that if his brake system had indeed failed, his brakes would have been red hot and smoking as they dragged his ass to a stop whether he liked it or not. The only failure here was his sound judgment. Everything that happened subsequently is on his poor judgment.

Now as far as the sentence, that seems like it is the result of Colorado minimums coupled with the number of offenses and fatalities involved. Even before this case was settled though I can tell you that the DOT has been implementing changes to the CDL certification process in an attempt to keep poorly trained new drivers off the roads.

No doubt we've all seen certain carriers whose names are synonymous with bad or inexperienced driving. This is because these companies are 'CDL mills', carriers that operate their own training schools for profit and churn out drivers who don't have the experience necessary to tackle the many challenging terrains this nation has. The requirements for operating a CDL school are going to get much harder come February of 2022. My own company partnered with local community college which already has a CDL program. We provide the trucks, they provide the instruction, it takes 2-3 months to get their CDL versus 3-4 weeks at a CDL-mill carrier, and then IF we offer them a job they'll be teaming with an experienced driver for 3-6 months before they'll drive solo. During that period, they'll get specific experience in scenarios like steep mountains, winter driving, high wind conditions, and so forth. Who would you rather have operating an 80,000 pound rolling missile - the driver who 5 weeks before was flipping burgers or the one who's already got 60k miles of hands-on one-on-one mentored real-world experience?

Now if we can just get the DOT to do something about those Mexican drivers who don't read, speak, or understand English yet somehow are allowed to drive in the US.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

Now if we can just get the DOT to do something about those Mexican drivers who don't read, speak, or understand English yet somehow are allowed to drive in the US.

That's another thing Bill Clinton did to us, a component of NAFTA.

 

[Bugzilla]

Who would you rather have operating an 80,000 pound rolling missile - the driver who 5 weeks before was flipping burgers or the one who's already got 60k miles of hands-on one-on-one mentored real-world experience?

Now if we can just get the DOT to do something about those Mexican drivers who don't read, speak, or understand English yet somehow are allowed to drive in the US.

I tend to agree with your response, but, as in any occupation, just because you have done it long time doesn’t necessarily mean you have been doing it right for a long time.

As for the DOT, press 2 for English.

 

[EOD Guy]

I’m not too familiar with this incident but it seems to me to be many examples of poor judgement and negligence. He gets 110 years for what happened yet we have the lady in Indiana that blows by a school bus, kills 3 kids and maims a 4th and gets 4 years. She was set for an early release but recently blocked to keep her in prison.

 

[jsharmon7]

Sounds like he was going 85mph because he was going downhill and the brakes didn’t work. The real issue was passing so many emergency ramps. The judge didn’t want to sentence him to 110 years but apparently didn’t have a choice. Many are trying to make this a racism issue, but it sounds like a sentencing guideline issue.

 

[Brad69]

Normal SOP in mountain driving you use one gear lower than used to pull the hill. Set engine brake on highest setting.

Attempt to use engine brake to maintain a safe speed. If you have to use the service breaks “stab” break. You apply the breaks to get below your safe speed then release them so they can cool.

Never shift gears if it gets out of gear you most likely will not be able to get back into gear.

Runaway ramps will save your life and others if all goes wrong.

Dude had lumber on it’s always heavy and cheap. He probably was at 80,000lbs you are not going to get stopped at 80+mph.

He should have been trained in mountain driving. I still have a pucker factor on a big mountain I don’t wanna kill innocent people in a crash.

So 110 years might be a long time but he was supposed to be a trained professional driver.

 

[HoughMade]

110 years sounds pretty steep to me.

I have no problem with criminal charges here as I understand he may have ignored some issues with the brakes earlier and was probably not driving as safely as he could, and I'll believe the jury- recklessly.

...but how do you get charged, and convicted, of 24 counts of an attempt crime? (Attempted First Degree Assault). I don't know Colorado law, but generally speaking, to attempt something you have to, y'know...intend to do it. He clearly did not.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

110 years sounds pretty steep to me.

I have no problem with criminal charges here as I understand he may have ignored some issues with the brakes earlier and was probably not driving as safely as he could, and I'll believe the jury- recklessly.

...but how do you get charged, and convicted, of 24 counts of an attempt crime? (Attempted First Degree Assault). I don't know Colorado law, but generally speaking, to attempt something you have to, y'know...intend to do it. He clearly did not.

CO has an "extreme indifference" section in the applicable law:

Under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life, he knowingly engages in conduct which creates a grave risk of death to another person, and thereby causes serious bodily injury to any person

2016 Colorado Revised Statutes :: Title 18 - :: Criminal Code :: Article 3 - :: Offenses Against the Person :: Part 2 - :: Assaults :: § 18-3-202. Assault in the first degree

law.justia.com

 

[jake blue]

Not a legal scholar but extreme indifference does seem to describe this situation. Too many cases revolve around intent which is usually nearly impossible to prove unless there's evidence of premeditation. Indifference seems like it'd be much more self-evident because our actions in a situation reflect our attitude. Bypassing runaway ramps = I don't want to pay the fines and recovery fees and potentially lose my job. Slamming into stopped traffic instead of swerving/rolling over on the shoulder = I don't want to wreck my truck or lose my load. That's the kind of stuff going through his head as he made bad decision after bad decision. Couple that with his lack of experience and I'm pretty sure he didn't think he was actually out of control until it was too late. This forced him into a small window of equally unpalatable options and under pressure we don't usually make good decisions, we make self-preserving ones. And given that his chances of dying were equal or greater by slamming into traffic than rolling it on the shoulder I'd say he didn't decide at all - he just froze up and closed his eyes hoping for the best. That's extreme indifference.

 

[hoosierdoc]

Many are trying to make this a racism issue, but it sounds like a sentencing guideline issue.

Ah... Systemic racism then