The Colorado parole board has denied parole to Rogel Aguilera-Mederos, the truck driver whose brakes failed on Interstate 70 in 2019 in a crash that killed four people and injured others, CDL Life reported, citing Univision Colorado. The denial was made on October 16, and no reason for it was given in the reports.

Aguilera-Mederos told the board he felt very sorry about the crash, prayed often and wished he had died instead of the four victims, according to CDL Life. He assured the board he did not belong in prison and would not get in trouble again if released, saying he would make sure the board did not regret its choice.

His case drew national attention after he was first sentenced to 110 years in prison — the mandatory minimum under Colorado's consecutive-sentencing rules for the 27 counts on which a jury convicted him in 2021. Governor Jared Polis commuted the sentence to 10 years on December 30, 2021, calling the original penalty highly atypical and unjust.

A second report, from Cuba Headlines, said the board assessed his request ahead of his December parole-eligibility date and that it did not reach the four favourable votes needed from seven participating members. Awaaz Punjab has not independently verified the vote count, which neither CDL Life nor Univision Colorado stated in the account cited above.

Aguilera-Mederos has another parole hearing scheduled in September 2027. Without parole, his expected release date is in December 2029, the reports said.

At trial, he testified that his brakes failed as he descended I-70. Prosecutors argued he was speeding and drove past a runaway truck ramp before crashing into stopped traffic — the two accounts of the 2019 crash remain the core dispute in a case that became a national debate about trucking safety and mandatory sentencing.