Judge Frees Paramedic Jailed for Elijah McClain Death

A Colorado paramedic sentenced in March to five years behind bars for his role in the 2019 death of Elijah McClain will see freedom earlier than anticipated. Per the AP, Adams County District Judge Mark Warner on Friday vacated Peter Cichuniec's sentence and instead reduced it to four years of probation, meaning Cichuniec will now be released from prison after serving about 10 months of his original sentence. In his decision, Warner said Cichuniec—convicted of criminally negligent homicide and second-degree assault for injecting McClain, a 23-year-old massage therapist, with ketamine to help subdue him after a 911 call reporting a "sketchy" person—had had to make quick decisions the night McClain was detained.

Warner, who handed down the original sentence in March, added that Cichuniec, 51, who had 18 years under his belt as a paramedic and firefighter, had no previous criminal history and was a person of good character. Warner also cited the "unusual and extenuating" circumstances of the case. The Washington Post notes that when such circumstances exist, the state's mandatory sentencing law permits judges to slash prison sentences, once a prisoner has put in 119 days behind bars and undergone a risk assessment by Colorado's corrections department. Cichuniec had filed a motion to modify his sentence in June.

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said he was disappointed in Warner's decision, while a local police-reform advocate called it "disturbing," reports the AP. The head of the International Association of Fire Fighters, meanwhile, said he was "relieved" to hear the news. Sheneen McClain, Elijah McClain's mother, wasn't at Friday's hearing, but state prosecutor Jason Slothouber spoke on her behalf, per Colorado Public Radio. She "does want the court to know that she strongly objects to any modification of the sentence and believes that prison is the most just sentence for the death of her son," Slothouber said. The other Aurora paramedic convicted in the case, Jeremy Cooper, was sentenced earlier this year to four years of probation, 14 months of work release, and community service. (More Elijah McClain stories.)