Former Colo. officer gets 14 months in prison over death of Elijah McClain

Jan. 6 (UPI) -- A former Colorado police officer has been sentenced to 14 months in prison and four years probation for his role in the 2019 death of Elijah McClain, an unarmed Black man.

With Friday's sentencing by a state district judge, ex-Aurora, Colo., officer Randy Roedema now has until March 22 to report to the Adams County Sheriff's Detention Facility in Brighton, Colo., to begin serving his sentence for criminally negligent homicide and third-degree assault.

McClain, who was 23, died from heart failure after he was injected with ketamine while detained during a medical intervention.

McClain died Aug. 30, 2019, after he was taken off life support at a hospital, a week after he was stopped and detained by Roedema and two other police officers in Aurora, Colo.

A jury convicted Roedema, 41, of both charges in October.

Former officers Nathan Woodyard and Jason Rosenblatt, who faced the same charges as Roedema, were acquitted in November.

Paramedics Jeremy Cooper and Peter Cichuniec were convicted of criminally negligent homicide on Dec. 23 for their role in McClain's death. Cichuniec delivered the dose of ketamine via injection that caused McClain's heart to stop and was also convicted of assault in the second-degree for unlawfully administering the drug.

Police confronted McClain on Aug. 24, 2019, while he was walking down an Aurora street while wearing a ski mask. His family said he often wore the mask because of a medical condition.

McClain, who was unarmed, initially refused to stop for police who then tackled him and pinned him on the ground using a carotid control hold. The technique cuts off blood flow to the brain.

Police ignored McClain's cries for help while holding him down.

All three officers and both paramedics had pleaded not guilty.

"The court was shocked by what appeared to be, really, indifference to Elijah McClain's suffering after he was clearly in custody and in handcuffs," Judge Mark Warner said Friday while handing down Roedema's sentence, according to ABC News.

"I think it's important for folks to be aware, criminally negligent homicide is not considered a violent crime. And despite what folks' opinions or my opinion might be about whether this was violent or not [that] doesn't control [the law]."

McClain's mother Sheneen McClain had called for Roedema to receive the maximum allowable sentence of three years in prison.

"Elijah McLean had no criminal activity or record at the time of his murder on August 24, 2019. Elijah was a young adult who had his whole life ahead of him," his mother Sheneed McClain told the court during the sentencing hearing.

"My son will never be a dad, an uncle or a grandfather. Randy Roedema has stolen my son's life. All the belated apologies in the world cannot remove my son's blood from Randy's hands."