Gov. Jared Polis’ determination to abruptly cut back the 110-year jail sentence for the truck driver who killed 4 folks in a fiery 2019 crash is impacting different ongoing court docket instances, a bipartisan pair of Colorado district attorneys instructed the governor in a five-page letter that was extremely essential of the commutation.
Boulder County District Legal professional Michael Dougherty, a Democrat, and Mesa County District Legal professional Dan Rubinstein, a Republican, referred to as the commutation “unprecedented, untimely and unwarranted” in a Jan. 20 letter to Polis obtained by The Denver Put up on Tuesday by an open data request.
The prosecutors mentioned the governor’s determination to scale back Rogel Aguilera-Mederos’ 110-year sentence to 10 years whereas the trucker’s case was nonetheless pending within the courts “undercut the neighborhood’s belief” within the justice system and has impacted plea-bargain negotiations in some instances.
“Your determination is having a considerable ripple impact,” the district attorneys wrote.
In a current Boulder County case, they mentioned, prosecutors prolonged a plea supply of eight years in jail to an individual who sexually assaulted a woman. The protection legal professional in that case argued the sentence was extreme in mild of Aguilera-Mederos’ decreased jail time period, the letter mentioned.
“Sentences must be influenced by the details and circumstances, not by petitions, on-line surveys or tweets,” the letter mentioned.
The 2 district attorneys despatched the letter to Polis the day earlier than the governor was scheduled to satisfy with the board of the Colorado District Attorneys’ Council. The letter was meant to permit Polis to arrange to deal with their issues, Dougherty mentioned.
“The governor needed to clear the air and acknowledged that his motion was unprecedented,” Dougherty mentioned of the assembly. “DA Rubinstein and I are optimistic that our issues have been understood and that what occurred in that case was an exception.”
Conor Cahill, a spokesman for Polis, referred to as Aguilera-Mederos’ 110-year jail sentence “weird” and mentioned Polis acted rapidly as a result of “there was clearly an urgency to treatment this sentence and restore confidence within the uniformity and equity of our legal justice system.”
Each Dougherty and Rubinstein mentioned within the letter that the 110-year jail sentence was extreme, however argued that Polis ought to have waited for a choose to scale back his sentence — a process that was underway — earlier than appearing.
Aguilera-Mederos’ obligatory minimal sentence drew widespread outrage after it was imposed in December, with greater than 5 million folks signing a web based petition that requested or not it’s decreased.
Polis’ determination to commute the sentence days earlier than the choose overseeing Aguilera-Mederos’ case was scheduled to contemplate lowering the jail time period drew rebukes from the judge and from members of the family of people that died within the April 25, 2019, crash on Interstate 70 in Lakewood.