Jurors on Friday convicted two Aurora paramedics of criminally negligent homicide in the death of Elijah McClain, ending three months of back-to-back trials that also resulted in the conviction of one police officer and the acquittal of two others charged in the high-profile 2019 case.
Paramedic Peter Cichuniec, who injected McClain with an overdose of the sedative ketamine after police put the 23-year-old in a neck hold, was found guilty of criminally negligent homicide and second-degree assault by drugging, but acquitted of a second assault charge.
The jury found paramedic Jeremy Cooper guilty of criminally negligent homicide, but acquitted him of both second-degree assault counts.
Neither of the two Aurora Fire Rescue paramedics was found guilty of the more serious count of reckless manslaughter, but rather the lesser-included homicide charge, a low-level felony. Both could face years in prison at sentencing.
McClain’s mother, Sheneen, raised her fist in the air and exclaimed, “We did it! We did it! We did it!” while leaving the courthouse with a friend and the president of the Aurora NAACP.
“We knew these cases would be difficult to prosecute,” Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said in a statement Friday evening. “We are satisfied with today’s verdict, and we are confident that bringing these cases to trial was the right thing to do for justice, for Elijah McClain, and for healing in the Aurora community. … The world — Elijah and especially his mother Sheneen McClain — deserved to have the full story told. And justice demanded it.”
Because Cichuniec also was convicted of a sentence enhancer for causing McClain serious bodily injury or death, he was taken into custody after the verdict was read Friday evening. His wife had her head bowed down as deputies prepared to handcuff him. Cooper’s wife sobbed alongside her. Cooper remained free on bail.
The case against the paramedics was the first among several recent criminal prosecutions involving medical first responders to reach trial, potentially setting the bar for prosecutors in future cases.
The outcome could set a precedent going forward for how emergency personnel respond to situations with people in police custody, said University of Miami criminologist Alex Piquero.
“Imagine if you’re a paramedic,” Piquero said. “They could be hesitant. They could say, ‘I’m not going to do anything’ or ‘I’m going to do less. I don’t want to be found guilty.’”
Following their convictions Friday, Cichuniec and Cooper have been terminated by Aurora Fire Rescue as required by city charter, Chief Alec Oughton said in a statement.
Oughton noted that the agency has changed its policies and training in the years since McClain’s death, but he expressed concern with the guilty verdicts.
“While I appreciate the jury’s diligence, integrity and public service to ensure a fair trial, I am discouraged that these paramedics have received felony punishment for following their training and protocols in place at the time and for making discretionary decisions while taking split-second action in a dynamic environment,” he said.
The jury in the weekslong trial in Adams County District Court deliberated for two full days and, at one point on Friday afternoon, signaled to the judge that they possibly were deadlocked on one of the charges, before being sent back to continue working.
“Zero accountability and zero remorse”
The verdict closes a major chapter in the winding four-year saga that followed the unarmed Black man’s death after Aurora police officers violently restrained him and paramedics injected him with a too-large dose of ketamine.
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 someone 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.
In addition to the two paramedics, three Aurora police officers stood trial earlier this fall in connection with McClain’s death. The officers used a carotid hold on McClain during the Aug. 24, 2019, encounter, squeezing his neck until he lost consciousness. McClain vomited and struggled to breathe after the chokehold, and repeatedly begged for help, telling officers that he couldn’t breathe.
Officer Randy Roedema was convicted of criminally negligent homicide and third-degree assault in October and is set to be sentenced on Jan. 5. Former officer Jason Rosenblatt, who was fired from the Aurora Police Department before he was indicted, was acquitted of criminal charges during the same trial.
A jury found Officer Nathan Woodyard, who carried out the carotid hold, not guilty of criminal charges on Nov. 6, and he has returned to work at the police department.
Prosecutors argued during closing arguments in the paramedics’ trial Wednesday that the two men gave McClain an overdose of ketamine that stopped his breathing and ultimately killed him after they failed to properly assess, monitor and treat McClain.
Prosecutor Shannon Stevenson criticized the paramedics for never asking McClain any questions, never touching him before they injected the ketamine and for failing to monitor his breathing after the men injected McClain with the maximum dose of ketamine, a dose much larger than it should have been. She also took aim at the paramedics’ prior testimony in the trial; both took the stand in their own defenses.
“In all the things they said, they didn’t say one single word that reflected any remorse for what happened to Elijah McClain, not one,” Stevenson said. “…They didn’t admit there was anything they could have done better. They expressed zero accountability and zero remorse for their reckless and callous decisions. The decisions that killed Elijah McClain. Their patient.”
Political outrage and emotion
Defense attorneys for the two paramedics argued that they were good men caught in the larger systemic failures of racism and policing in Colorado who followed as best they could the right training and protocols in McClain’s treatment, though they were at times hampered by aggressive police officers.
The criminal prosecution was based on political outrage and emotion instead of facts, said Michael Pellow, Cooper’s attorney.
“It’s from the optics that the prosecution asks you to convict Mr. Cooper and Mr. Cichuniec,” Pellow said. “It makes us sick to watch a video and know how it is going to turn out. The sad, terrible ending to it. We all have hindsight at this point. But they didn’t.”
David Goddard, attorney for Cichuniec, said the paramedics genuinely believed McClain was suffering from excited delirium — a disputed condition that describes someone exhibiting extreme agitation to the point where they are a danger to themselves and others. That belief justified the use of ketamine, he said. Prosecutors argued McClain was not experiencing excited delirium.
“The relevant question here is not whether Elijah McClain was suffering from excited delirium, rather the relevant question is whether it was reasonable for these two gentlemen to believe that he was suffering from excited delirium,” Goddard said.
Prosecutor Jason Slothouber said the paramedics “didn’t even try” to properly treat McClain.
“This is not a situation where there is some good faith effort and just, you know, due to their best efforts they made a mistake,” he told jurors. “…They come up and all they do is look at Mr. McClain, ignore every one of his words and immediately make the decision to do the worst possible thing: give him a big overdose of ketamine that he doesn’t need.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Sign up to get crime news sent straight to your inbox each day.
