Former Aurora Officer Randy Roedema sentenced to 14 months in Adams County Jail for 2019 death of Elijah McClain

Former Aurora Police Officer Randy Roedema has been sentenced to 14 months in Adams County Jail, along with four years probation after being convicted for the death of Elijah McClain back in 2019. 

“I cannot help but contemplate all the different scenarios that could’ve taken place that evening that may have resulted in a different outcome,” Roedema said before his sentence. 

The death of the unarmed young Black man four years ago received widespread publicity inside and outside of Colorado and led to large-scale protests and reforms in Aurora’s police department.

The 23-year-old died after 911 operators received a call about a suspicious person walking down the street. They found McClain on Aug. 24, 2019, wearing a ski mask and carrying groceries when they arrived at Colfax Avenue and Billings Street. Roedema, Jason Rosenblatt, and Nathan Woodyard were all indicted by a grand jury for forcibly restraining McClain in a violent struggle that was captured on police body cam video.

On Oct. 12, a Colorado jury reached a split verdict in Adams County Court for two Aurora police officers, Roedema and Rosenblatt who were on trial for the death of Elijah McClain. 

 RELATED: Colorado may soon bar police and coroners from referencing “excited delirium” in lethal force cases

The jury found Roedema guilty of criminally negligent homicide and third-degree assault, while Rosenblatt was found not guilty of manslaughter and assault. 

Woodyard was found not guilty on Nov. 6 of manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide. Woodyard reportedly returned to the department after he was acquitted of the charges. 

According to the Aurora Police Department, Woodyard is no longer suspended without pay following his Nov. 6 acquittal. He reportedly reintegrated with the department and is currently on restricted duty. That means he is not in uniform, has no public contact and no enforcement actions pending next steps in the reintegration process, according to the Aurora Police Department. 

A jury also founded two Aurora paramedics guilty of criminally negligent homicide on Dec. 22 when the 23-year-old Black man was walking home from the grocery store and confronted by officers, who were seen on bodycam video, forcibly restraining him while Aurora Fire Rescue paramedics — Jeremy Cooper and Peter Cichuniec — injected him with ketamine.    

McClain went into cardiac arrest in an ambulance a few minutes later and died three days after that.

RELATED: Read all our coverage of Elijah McClain here

Cooper and Cichuniec were both convicted on charges of criminally negligent homicide. As for the counts of second-degree assault, Cooper was acquitted of those charges. Cichuniec was found guilty of second-degree assault-unlawful administration of drugs and found not guilty on the other second-degree assault charge.

Cichuniec was taken into custody immediately following the verdict. 

Following the announcement on the sentencing for Roedema, Elijah McClain’s mother Sheneen McClain spoke and believes that everyone who was involved in the death of her son on that night back in August of 2019, didn’t show any remorse.

“Our communities cannot know peace until we see the justice departments hold their own enforcers accountable,” she said. “My son will never be a dad, an uncle, or a grandfather. Randy Roedema stole my son’s life. All the belated apologies in the world cannot remove my son’s blood from Randy’s hands.”

Both paramedics who were found guilty for Elijah McClain’s death are set to be sentenced on March 1.   

The city of Aurora agreed back in 2021 to pay $15 million to settle a civil lawsuit brought by McClain’s parents. 

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