Cop Convicted in Elijah McClain's Death

Jurors convicted a Denver-area police officer of homicide Thursday and acquitted another of all charges in the 2019 death of Elijah McClain, a Black man who was put in a neck hold, pinned to the ground and given an overdose of the sedative ketamine by paramedics, the AP reports. Aurora police officer Randy Roedema was found guilty of criminally negligent homicide and third-degree assault by a 12-person jury. They found officer Jason Rosenblatt not guilty. Roedema, who kept his head bowed after the verdict was read, faces up to three years in prison on the more serious homicide charge. Rosenblatt hugged his supporters as he walked out of court.

McClain's mother listened to the verdict from the front row, where Attorney General Phil Weiser had his hand on her shoulder. Sheneen McClain held her right hand high in a raised fist as she left the courtroom. She expressed disappointment in the verdict. "This is the divided states of America, and that's what happens," she said as she walked away from the court house. Roedema and Rosenblatt were charged with manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and second-degree assault—all felonies. However, the jury as it went into deliberation was asked to consider a lesser form of assault for Roedema, the one he was found guilty of. A third Aurora officer, who applied the neck hold, and two paramedics were indicted on similar charges, but the paramedics have more counts.

Roedema and another officer who was not charged held down McClain while paramedics administered the ketamine. Rosenblatt's attorney had pointed out during the trial that he was not near McClain at that point in the confrontation. Attorneys for both defendants pointed to the ketamine as the cause of McClain's death. Roedema's attorney said the officers were forced to react when McClain resisted and allegedly reached for the gun of one of the officers, a claim prosecutors disputed. Judge Mark Warner set sentencing for January 5, 2024. McClain, a 23-year-old massage therapist, was stopped Aug. 24, 2019, while listening to music and wearing a mask that covered most of his face. He asked to be left alone and had not been accused of committing any crime. (McClain's devastating last words became a rallying cry.)