Colorado Denies Parole to Rogel Aguilera-Mederos, Whose 110-Year Sentence Drew National Outcry

Colorado’s parole board has denied release to Rogel Aguilera-Mederos, the Cuban truck driver whose original 110-year sentence for a crash that killed four people prompted a national clemency campaign and a dramatic reduction in his prison term.

The board rejected his application on Oct. 16, 2026, the Colorado Department of Corrections confirmed to Noticias Univision Colorado. The department did not disclose the reasons for the decision.

Aguilera-Mederos is scheduled to appear before the board again in September 2027. His projected release date is Dec. 13, 2029, although that date could change depending on the time credits he earns.

The decision means he will remain in custody under the 10-year sentence imposed after Gov. Jared Polis commuted his original punishment in December 2021.

A Deadly Crash and an Extraordinary Sentence

On April 25, 2019, Rogel Lázaro Aguilera-Mederos was driving a tractor-trailer carrying lumber down Interstate 70 near Lakewood, Colo., when it slammed into stopped traffic. The truck was traveling more than 80 miles per hour, and the resulting pileup involved 28 vehicles.

Four men were killed: Miguel Ángel Lamas Arellano, 24; William Bailey, 67; Doyle Harrison, 61; and Stanley Politano, 69, according to CBS Colorado. Several other people were injured.

Aguilera-Mederos told investigators that his brakes had failed as he descended from the mountains. Prosecutors argued at trial that he had passed a runaway truck ramp after losing his brakes. Lakewood police ruled out alcohol and drugs as factors in the crash.

The collision sparked a fire and shut down the highway in both directions for nearly 24 hours.

In October 2021, a Jefferson County jury convicted Aguilera-Mederos of 27 counts, including four counts of vehicular homicide. Judge A. Bruce Jones subsequently sentenced him to 110 years in prison under Colorado laws requiring consecutive sentences for certain offenses.

The judge said he would not have imposed that punishment had the law given him discretion.

The sentence drew widespread criticism and a clemency petition signed by millions of people.

Clemency Reduced His Term to 10 Years

On Dec. 30, 2021, Polis commuted the sentence to 10 years as part of his annual year-end clemency actions, exercising his authority under the Colorado Constitution. The commutation made Aguilera-Mederos eligible for parole beginning Dec. 30, 2026.

The governor acted about two weeks before a scheduled January 2022 hearing at which a Jefferson County judge was to consider reducing the sentence to 20 to 30 years. District attorneys Michael Dougherty and Daniel Rubenstein agreed the original sentence was excessive but criticized the commutation as a “troubling precedent” that bypassed the courts, according to KDVR.

With his parole eligibility approaching, Aguilera-Mederos appeared before the board in October and expressed remorse, according to CDLLife, a trucking news website. He told the board he would not get in trouble again if released.

“I’m not coming back to prison. I feel like I don’t belong here,” he said, according to CDLLife. “I’m going to make sure that you don’t regret your choice if I’m granted parole.”

The board nevertheless denied his application.

Rogel Aguilera-Mederos Faces Another Parole Hearing in 2027

The next opportunity for parole is scheduled for September 2027, according to the corrections department’s confirmation to Noticias Univision Colorado.

The Colorado State Board of Parole decides whether people in state prisons are released under supervision. No reasons for its decision in this case have been made public.

That hearing leaves open the possibility of release before December 2029. The projected release date could also change if Aguilera-Mederos earns additional time credits.

For now, he remains in prison, serving the reduced sentence that followed one of Colorado’s most closely watched sentencing controversies.