An Aurora police officer who was fired from the force has been acquitted by a jury in connection with the death of Elijah McClain in 2019. 

Former Officer Jason Rosenblatt had faced charges in Adams County of reckless manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and second-degree assault. 

Co-defendant Officer Randy Roedema was found guilty of criminally negligent homicide and third-degree assault. They were the lesser included charges to the manslaughter and second-degree assault counts he faced.

McClain’s mother, Sheneen McClain, raised her fist to a line of gathered photographers as she left the courtroom following the verdicts’ reading. She did not address reporters except to say: “This is the divided states of America, and that’s what happens. I’m out.”

She later told The Denver Gazette’s news partner 9News: “No, it’s not enough.”

“Because Roedema wasn’t alone in what he did to my son. He had accomplices. He had buddies with badges who are all bullies,” she said. “So it’s not a victory for me at all. This is not a victory for the human race. This is not a victory for justice. This is not justice. This is a misuse of taxpayer money.”

The Aurora Police Department posted on the social media platform X minutes after the verdicts were read: 

“I know many have been waiting a long time for the involved parties to have their day in court,” according to Police Chief Art Acevedo. “As a nation, we must be committed to the rule of law. As such, we hold the American judicial process in high regard.

“We respect the verdict handed down by the jury, and thank the members of the jury for their thoughtful deliberation and service. Due to the additional pending trials, the Aurora Police Department is precluded from further comment at this time.”

Rosenblatt’s attorney, Harvey Steinberg, shepherded him out of the courtroom shortly after Judge Mark Warner excused him and they did not address reporters. Both he and Steinberg teared up after his verdict was read.

The trial began Sept. 15. 

With Officer Nathan Woodyard making the first contact, the three officers stopped 23-year-old McClain on Aug. 24, 2019 as he walked home from a convenience store after buying iced tea. He wore a mask covering most of his face, which prosecutors said McClain did because he was often cold, and was listening to music. The officers had responded to a 911 call by a person who reported McClain was acting suspiciously.

The officers took McClain to the ground, and Woodyard put him in a neck hold called a carotid hold that caused him to briefly lose consciousness. About 18 minutes into the struggle, a paramedic who responded to the scene injected McClain with ketamine.

He went into cardiac arrest and stopped breathing. He died a few days later in a hospital after being declared brain dead.

Prosecutors from the Colorado Attorney General’s Office said the officers violated their training when they ignored McClain’s cries that he could not breathe while on the ground and by not monitoring his pulse or breathing.

They also had a duty to tell paramedics called about the signs McClain was in distress, prosecutors said, but instead said he was “on something,” behaving erratically and showing extreme strength.

A few medical experts for the attorney general’s office testified the restraint and carotid hold used on McClain led to a cycle of elevated acid in his blood as he struggled to breathe and vomiting, which he inhaled, that made him more vulnerable to the ketamine injection. But the doctors’ opinions reflected mixed degrees of certainty about whether they believed the police officers’ actions actually contributed to McClain’s death. 

Roedema, the most senior of the three officers, was accused of keeping McClain facedown instead of making sure he was on his side to breathe and, at one point, yanking on his arm until a joint pops. Body-worn camera footage also shows him slamming McClain’s torso into the ground after McClain says, “I can’t fix myself.”

Roedema actually used less force than would have been justified because he believed McClain was resisting, his attorneys argued at trial. Roedema believed he saw McClain try to grab Rosenblatt’s gun, and the officers had to react to a rapidly changing situation.

Rosenblatt’s attorneys argued at trial he stepped away from the struggle for several minutes toward the end of the encounter. They also said that as the most junior officer on the scene, he was listening to Roedema’s earnest statements that McClain tried to grab his gun.

“It might have been easy for the jury to seize on the emotions and convict them both as accused by the prosecution, but they didn’t do that. They followed the law,” Ryan Brackley, a defense attorney and former prosecutor, told The Denver Gazette.

Two paramedics, Jeremy Cooper and Peter Cichuniec, also face charges and have a trial scheduled for November. Woodyard faces counts of manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide, and jury selection in his trial begins Friday.

Former Adams County District Attorney Dave Young chose not to pursue any criminal charges in 2019, but the case was re-examined in 2020 after Gov. Jared Polis asked Attorney General Phil Weiser to investigate amid the 2020 protests over George Floyd’s murder by Minneapolis police.

Weiser said in a statement following the verdicts he understands some may be upset with the outcomes, but said the jury process and the members’ decision should be respected. He asked people to never forget McClain.

“We are here today because, as the prosecutors in this case said, Elijah McClain mattered. He was only 23 years old when he died. He had his whole life ahead of him. His mother, Sheneen McClain, has relived that tragic night again and again over the last several years.”

The City of Aurora sent out a statement Thursday evening. 

“Irrespective of the outcome of the trial and the remaining two trials, Mr. McClain’s death was tragic and had a profound impact on all of us,” Interim City Manager Jason Batchelor said in the statement. “I have stood alongside city employees and community members over the last four years in championing meaningful, measured public safety changes while simultaneously supporting our dedicated police officers and firefighters who work tirelessly to keep our community safe. None of that work will change.”

Roedema and Woodyard have been suspended without pay. Rosenblatt was fired in 2020 for responding “ha ha” to a photo texted to him by other Aurora officers re-enacting the neck hold used on McClain.

Roedema’s sentencing has been set for Jan. 5, according to a post on X by the state judicial branch. Criminally negligent homicide, a class 5 felony, can bring up to three years in prison. Third-degree assault is a class 1 misdemeanor.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. Denver Gazette reporter Carol McKinley contributed this story, as did 9News.