Colorado Politics

Arraignments rescheduled in McClain’s death

The arraignments for the three police officers and two paramedics charged in Elijah McClain’s 2019 death have been rescheduled for Nov. 4.

None of the five entered pleas in an afternoon hearing Friday.

McClain, a 23-year-old Black man, died in the hospital on Aug. 30, 2019, days after police officers forcibly restrained him, put him in a neck hold and paramedics injected him with 500 milligrams of the sedative ketamine. McClain was not suspected of any crime at the time of his police encounter.

Judge Priscilla Loew decided in late July a grand jury had found probable cause to indict the five officers and paramedics: Jason Rosenblatt, Nathan Woodyard, Randy Roedema, Jeremy Cooper and Peter Cichuniec. The grand jury returned 32 counts altogether last year, including a charge each of criminally negligent homicide and manslaughter, as well as assault counts.

The defendants had requested a probable cause review of the indictments. Woodyard’s attorneys asked Loew to dismiss his charges on the basis of testimony to the grand jury by several medical experts that the ketamine injection caused McClain’s death, and not the effects of the neck hold. His attorneys argued Woodyard had no authority over the decision to inject ketamine.

The 17th Judicial District Attorney’s Office declined to bring charges against the five, but Attorney General Phil Weiser convened a grand jury last year.

The Legislature passed sweeping law enforcement reform legislation in June 2020, nearly a year after McClain’s death and in the wake of international racial justice protests following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody. Weiser’s office also made a report about patterns of racially biased policing and excessive force last September based on a civil investigation into the practices of Aurora’s police and fire departments, enabled by the new policing reform law. The agencies are now under a consent decree with the state.

Tags

PREV

PREVIOUS

Federal judge blocks nationwide settlement with Grubhub, orders further negotiations

A federal judge has blocked a proposed nationwide settlement between food delivery service Grubhub and restaurants frustrated about their inclusion on Grubhub’s platform without their consent. Although Grubhub reached an agreement last year with attorneys for Denver-based Freshcraft that would give restaurants greater control over whether and how they are listed on Grubhub, U.S. District […]

NEXT

NEXT UP

Community college did not violate instructor's rights during termination, judge finds

A former community college instructor on the Western Slope failed to show his constitutional rights were violated when the school chose not to renew his contract based on his performance, a federal judge has found. Shawn Sigstedt, who began teaching biology at the Steamboat Springs campus of Colorado Mountain College in 2007, claimed the school […]


Welcome Back.

Streak: 9 days i

Stories you've missed since your last login:

Stories you've saved for later:

Recommended stories based on your interests:

Edit my interests