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Randy Roedema was also sentenced to four years of probation in the case.
AURORA, Colo. — A judge on Friday afternoon sentenced the only Aurora officer convicted in the 2019 death of Elijah McClain to 14 months in jail.
In October, an Adams County jury convicted now former officer Randy Roedema of criminally negligent homicide and third-degree assault for his actions in McClain’s death.
On Friday, Judge Mark Warner gave Roedema a sentence of 14 months in jail for the third-degree assault charge. He was given 90 days in jail and four years of probation for the criminally negligent homicide charge which will be served concurrently. That means he will only serve a total of 14 months. His sentence is authorized to be served as work release instead of straight jail.
“What Randy Roedema did to my son Elijah McClain that night is called murder,” Sheneen McClain told the court ahead of the sentencing. “No matter what happens here today. No matter what Randy Roedema is sentenced to, he will always be a bully with a badge on that used his power in some of the most horrific and evil ways.”
She said Roedema robbed her son of ever becoming an uncle or a father or grandfather.
Watch below: Sheneen McClain’s full statement to the court ahead of sentencing.
Roedema himself spoke at the hearing – and started by expressing his condolences to the McClain family.
“I cannot imagine the agony they must feel on a day-to-day basis. I know that I would be devastated if I lost any of my children and I hate that the McClain family has to go through this,” he said. “At the same time, I do not think there is anything I can say that will make this OK. In fact, I know I don’t.”
Roedema was among five first responders indicted in the case. He and fellow Aurora officers Nathan Woodyard and Jason Rosenblatt stopped, restrained and subdued McClain near East Colfax Avenue and Billings Street on Aug. 24 2019, after a 911 caller reported he was wearing a ski mask and seemed “sketchy.” That struggle intensified after Roedema alleged that McClain tried to grab Rosenblatt’s gun – an assertion that prosecutors repeatedly questioned during the trial.
During the struggle, McClain was placed in a carotid hold, which can cut off the oxygen supply to the brain. At one point, after McClain was handcuffed and on the ground, Roedema was seen in body worn camera footage appearing to pick up McClain and slam him back into the ground. The move was described in court testimony by some witnesses as a “body slam.”
Multiple medical experts testified that the struggle with police left McClain in a vulnerable state. Besides experiencing low levels of oxygen in his body, he vomited and inhaled some of it, exacerbating that situation. And he suffered a spike in acid in his bloodstream.
He said repeatedly that he could not breathe.
Later that same night, Aurora Fire Rescue paramedics Jeremy Cooper and Peter Cichuniec injected McClain with the sedative ketamine. His heart stopped, and he later died.
Rosenblatt, who was acquitted of the charges against him by the same jury that convicted Roedema, had previously been fired for responding “ha ha” to a photo other officers took mocking McClain. Woodyard was acquitted in a separate trial and has begun the process of returning to the police force.
Last month, in the third and final trial, a jury found Cooper and Cichuniec guilty of criminally negligent homicide. The jury found Cooper not guilty of second-degree assault with intent to cause bodily harm and not guilty of second-degree assault for administering drugs without consent. The jury found Cichuniec guilty of second-degree assault for administering drugs without consent and acquitted him of second-degree assault with intent to cause bodily harm.
Cichuniec faces a sentence ranging from probation to 16 years in prison. Cooper is also eligible for probation but could be sentenced to as much as six years behind bars.
They are scheduled to be sentenced on March 1. Following their convictions, both were formally terminated from Aurora Fire Rescue.
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