The only Colorado police officer sentenced to serve jail time for his role in 23-year-old Elijah McClain’s 2019 death has filed an appeal seeking to overturn his conviction last fall.
Randy Roedema, a fired Aurora Police Department officer who last October was convicted of a criminally negligent homicide felony and misdemeanor third-degree assault, was sentenced on Jan. 5 to serve 14 months in jail for the misdemeanor and four years of probation for the felony, Atlanta Black Star reported previously.
Roedema was the senior patrol officer on the scene of McClain’s brutal arrest on Aug. 24, 2019, when he and two other Aurora cops responded to a report of a suspicious person wearing a ski mask in the Denver suburb.
McClain, who had purchased an iced tea at a convenience store shortly before officers profiled him, was administered a fatal overdose of ketamine by paramedics who treated him after he was forced to the ground and lost oxygen flow to his brain — and consciousness briefly — when officers put him in a neck hold.
Roedema’s sentencing was considered by some, including McClain’s mother, Sheneen McClain, to be too lenient due to the circumstances surrounding the young Black man’s death three days after receiving the elevated dose of the pain sedative. McClain also vomited into his ski mask as he was restrained.
McClain’s mother at the time called the sentence “a slap on the wrist.”
On Sunday, she posted via X a photo of her late son on what would have been his 28th birthday with a caption that read, “Know Justice Know Peace.”
Judge Mark Warner, who last month said his sentencing decision came down to what he perceived as Roedema’s “rehabilitative potential” and “good character,” ordered the former officer to serve out time in a county facility for his jail stint scheduled to begin on March 22.
Just over a month before Roedema is due to report to jail, his attorneys filed a notice of appeal on Feb. 21 with Colorado’s Court of Appeals, according to The Associated Press.
Roedema’s appeal is looking to challenge several issues in an attempt to overturn the conviction, including whether it was wrong for Roedema and another officer at the scene, Jason Rosenblatt, to have been tried together; whether the grand jury that indicted Roedema received instructions containing errors; and whether the attorney acted outside of his jurisdiction in convening the grand jury, KDVR-TV reported. Rosenblatt was acquitted at trial.
Roedema’s attorneys said other issues may still be brought up once the former officer files an opening brief in the appeal, the AP reported.
The Aurora Fire Rescue first responders who administered the fatal ketamine dosage — Jeremy Cooper and Peter Cichuniec — were found guilty in December for their role in McClain’s death
A Colorado jury found them guilty of criminally negligent homicide, and Cichuniec was found guilty of second-degree assault for the unlawful administration of drugs, Atlanta Black Star reported previously.
Both Cooper, who faces up to six years in prison, and Cichuniec, who faces up to 16 years, are due to be sentenced on Friday.
