The case of a young Colorado truck driver sentenced to 110 years in prison for his role in a fatal collision has sparked numerous appeals for leniency and fueled criticism of the US justice system.

On Tuesday, the Colorado district attorney whose office pursued the case asked the court to reconsider the sentence of Rogel Aguilera-Mederos, 26, following the backlash of a punishment deemed unduly harsh.

Aguilera-Mederos was convicted in October of homicide and driving and other charges related to a fatal accident in April 2019, which occurred while hauling timber in the foothills of the Rockies. He said he was descending a steep portion of the freeway when the brakes on his tractor-trailer failed, causing several vehicles to pile up and four deaths.

The judge in the case said he was obligated to give Aguilera-Mederos the long sentence based on the laws on minimum charges for charges, which drew further criticism from the criminal justice system. .

More than 4.5 million people have signed a petition calling on Colorado Governor Jared Polis to grant Aguilera-Mederos clemency or commute his sentence. Meanwhile, truckers and civil rights groups have expressed outrage at the conviction.

“It is a serious miscarriage of justice,” said Domingo Garcia, president of the League of United Latin American Citizens (Lulac). “Here is a man with no criminal record who went to work to feed his family. The brakes on his truck come out. It was a terrible accident. He gave 110 years for the first crime he ever committed, a crime that was not intentional.

Lulac sent a letter to Polis on behalf of Aguilera-Mederos, a Cuban immigrant, asking for a pardon or a reduction in his sentence. The lawyer for Aguilera-Mederos has lodged an appeal for clemency with the governor.

The Aguilera-Mederos truck crashed into vehicles that had slowed down due to another wreckage in the Denver suburb of Lakewood, resulting in a chain collision involving 28 vehicles that ruptured gas tanks and caused a ball of gasoline. fire that consumed vehicles and melted parts of the highway.

The accident killed Miguel Angel Lamas Arellano, 24, William Bailey, 67, Doyle Harrison, 61, and Stanley Politano, 69.

Prosecutors argued that Aguilera-Mederos could have used an access ramp along the highway, designed to safely stop vehicles that have lost their brake function. But, Aguilera-Mederos testified that he found it difficult to avoid traffic and shift his truck down a gear to slow it down.

Alexis King, the district attorney whose office pursued the case, told the Denver Post that Aguilera-Mederos had not agreed to efforts to negotiate a plea deal and that the sentences recognized the damage to victims of the accident.

Under the district attorney’s reconsideration petition, the court can vary the sentence down below the mandatory minimum, said Ann England, who teaches at the University Law School’s criminal defense clinic. from Colorado.

The judge in the case, Bruce Jones, had said the sentence was the mandatory minimum sentence required by state law, but a lesser sentence would be appropriate. Mandatory minimum sentences laws required that sentences for 27 counts of assault, assault, reckless driving and other counts be consecutive. “I will say that if I had the discretion it would not be my sentence,” he said.

Mandatory minimum sentences have helped lead to mass incarceration and over-incarceration in Colorado and the United States, England said.

“I think people should be asking why we have these mandatory minimum prison sentences,” England said. Mandatory minimum sentences remove discretion from the courts and shift the balance of power from the court to the prosecutor, she said.

This case, added England, is “a condemnation of the functioning of the system and of the functioning of mandatory sentences”.

The Colorado ACLU has condemned the conviction and supports efforts to get the governor to take up the case, said Mark Silverstein, legal director for the Colorado ACLU.

“The sentence is extraordinary, especially in light of the facts of this particular case,” said Silverstein. “It highlights the problems with the criminal justice system.”

During Aguilera-Mederos’ sentencing, relatives of those killed in the crash said he should serve time for the crimes. Duane Bailey, brother of William Bailey, has asked the judge to sentence Aguilera-Mederos to at least 20 years, the Post reported. “He made the deliberate and intentional decision that his life was more important than everyone else on the road that day,” he said.

Aguilera-Mederos cried apologizing to the families of the victims during his conviction. He asked them for forgiveness. “I am not a murderer. I am not a killer. When I look at my accusations, we are talking about a murderer, which is not me, ”he said. “I never thought of hurting anyone in my whole life.”

The Associated Press contributed reporting