Elijah McClain (Courtesy of McClain family)
BRIGHTON — An Adams County District Court judge on Friday wiped away the 5-year prison sentence for a former Aurora paramedic convicted in the death of Elijah McClain.
Judge Mark Warner vacated Peter Cichuniec’s prison term and converted the sentence to four years of probation, a move prosecutors previously said would “undermine the jury’s verdict” in the case.
“The court finds really there are unusual and extenuating circumstances and they are truly exceptional in this particular case,” Warner said during a brief hearing Friday.
Cichuniec, 51, was convicted of criminally negligent homicide and assault by drugging in the 2019 killing of McClain, a 23-year-old Black man who died after Aurora police put him in a neck hold and a paramedic injected him with an overdose of the sedative ketamine. Cichuniec was supervising the paramedic who injected the drug.
Warner in March sentenced Cichuniec to five years in prison — the mandatory minimum prison time required under Colorado law for the assault conviction — but Cichuniec in June asked the judge to reduce the length of the sentence on the grounds that his case involves “unusual and exceptional” circumstances.
State law allowed Warner to reduce the mandatory minimum prison sentence after Cichuniec spent at least 119 days in prison and after the Colorado Department of Corrections assessed Cichuniec’s risk level and reports back to the judge, which both happened.
Prosecutors opposed Cichuniec’s request, writing in a court filing that lowering Cichuniec’s sentence would be against the interests of justice. They noted that it is rare for mandatory prison sentences to be reduced under the exception in state law that Cichuniec claimed, with just 203 sentences modified under the statute between 1977 and June 2024.
“A sentence modification in this case will undermine the jury’s verdict, the legislature’s mandatory sentencing scheme, and the deterrence of the abuse of anesthetic drugs for improper purposes,” the filing read.
As he issued his ruling, Warner commented on Cichuniec’s lack of prior criminal history, rehabilitative potential, good character and his prior “pro-social” history, as well as his overall role in the events that led to McClain’s death — Cichuniec was the highest-ranking paramedic at the scene, but was most directly responsible for “the logistics of the call and safety of others involved,” Warner said.
Cichuniec admitted on the stand during his trial that he and Cooper overestimated McClain’s weight and that the paramedics gave McClain a too-high dose of ketamine. Cichuniec testified that he was concerned about giving McClain too little ketamine and didn’t think he had enough time to give a smaller dose, wait to see its effects, then call a doctor for permission to give more, as his training required.
Warner noted as he ruled Friday that Cichuniec needed to make quick decisions that night.
“The court must also, and does today as well, look at the deterrence effect of the sentence,” Warner said. “…For the most part, the court believes based on the issues that arose in this case, a deterrence effect has been really accomplished and there are unique circumstances to this case.”
Cichuniec was incarcerated at the Sterling Correctional Facility in northeast Colorado and it was not immediately clear how quickly he would be released to probation. His supporters cried and exclaimed “Pete is coming home” after Warner reduced the sentence Friday. They declined to comment to The Denver Post.
Prosecutor Jason Slothouber and defense attorney David Goddard also declined to comment. A spokesman for Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser’s office, Lawrence Pacheco, said prosecutors are “disappointed.”
“After considering the evidence, a statewide grand jury indicted Cichuniec, and a jury of his peers found him guilty for his criminal acts that led to the death of Elijah McClain,” he said. “We are disappointed the court reduced his sentence today, but we respect the decision.”
Cichuniec was one of three first responders convicted of crimes in McClain’s death after five were arrested and tried.
Former paramedic Jeremy Cooper and former Aurora police officer Randy Roedema were each convicted of criminally negligent homicide and sentenced to 14 months of work-release. Two other Aurora police officers, Jason Rosenblatt and Nathan Woodyard, were acquitted by juries of all criminal charges in McClain’s death.
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Roedema in June sought to change his work-release sentence to home detention, but Warner declined to rule on his request, finding that the district court did not have jurisdiction to do so.
McClain had committed no crime and was walking home from a convenience store while wearing a ski mask when he was stopped by officers after a teenager called 911 and said he appeared to be acting strange.
His death prompted thousands of people to take to the streets and protest police brutality during the summer of 2020, led the city of Aurora to pay a $15 million settlement to McClain’s parents, gave rise to court-ordered reform within the Aurora Police Department and spurred changes to state law and police training around the use of ketamine.
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