Nearly three years after the fact, the truck driven by Rogel Aguilera-Mederos continues to leave wreckage in its wake. His 110-year sentence left both his life and mandatory minimum sentencing policies in tatters.
While a petition to change Aguilera-Mederos’ sentence has already garnered two million signatures online, the real dilemma is what should be done about the sentencing guidelines that put him in that position in the first place. Arguments for and against mandatory minimum sentencing requirements have been at the center of heated debates for decades.
It is time the Colorado legislature took another long, hard look at these policies and made some changes. Specifically, they must return discretion to judges.
