Three Aurora police officers and one paramedic indicted in connection with the 2019 death of Elijah McClain had a brief hearing in Adams County District Court on Friday afternoon to set a status conference for their cases in February.

Officers Randy Roedema, Jason Rosenblatt and Nathan Woodyard and paramedic Peter Cichuniec each appeared virtually. The four, along with paramedic Jeremy Cooper, each face a count of criminally negligent homicide and manslaughter, both felonies, and assault charges are also among the counts. Attorney General Phil Weiser announced the indictments against the five defendants Sept. 1.

Judge Priscilla Loewe set status hearings for the cases for Feb. 11 at 1:30 p.m., to line up with a hearing for Cooper that had already been rescheduled.

Attorneys for the defendants have asked the court for a probable cause review to determine whether evidence supports the indictments against them. An attorney for Woodyard said Friday she also plans to to file a probable cause review request.

Police officers and paramedics charged for Elijah McClain’s death make first court appearance Monday

McClain, a Black man, encountered police as he walked home from a convenience store on Aug. 24, 2019. They had responded to a report of a person acting suspiciously, but McClain was not suspected of any crime. McClain wore a mask to keep warm because of anemia and was reportedly waving his arms.

The officers forcefully subdued McClain, putting him in a carotid hold, a type of neck hold intended to cause temporary unconsciousness to gain control over a person.

The paramedics called to the scene injected McClain with 500 milligrams of ketamine, which according to the indictment would have been the dose estimate for someone weighing more than 200 pounds. McClain weighed 143 pounds.

McClain went into cardiac arrest and died several days later in the hospital, having never regained consciousness.

The assault charges against Cooper and Cichuniec include the use of a deadly weapon, ketamine. Aurora’s Fire Department stopped using ketamine in September 2020, and Chief Fernando Gray has said the department does not currently plan to resume its use.

The Aurora Police Department no longer trains or authorizes any kind of chokehold. Last year, Aurora Police Chief Vanessa Wilson fired two officers who took a photo mocking McClain’s death and sent it to Rosenblatt, one of the officers who stopped McClain. Rosenblatt was also fired for responding, “Ha ha.”

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