Sentence for Paramedic Convicted in Elijah McClain’s Death Is Reduced to Probation

The punishment for a Colorado paramedic who was sentenced to five years in prison for his role in the 2019 death of Elijah McClain was reduced to probation on Friday.

The paramedic, Peter Cichuniec, a former paramedic with Aurora Fire Rescue, was convicted of criminally negligent homicide and the more serious second-degree assault for the unlawful administration of drugs in the case, which drew national attention after the death of George Floyd and became part of the movement against police brutality.

Mr. McClain, a 23-year-old Black man, died after a confrontation with the Aurora police, in which officers put him in a chokehold and a paramedic injected him with ketamine. He died in a hospital several days later.

Mr. Cichuniec, 51, was the senior-ranked paramedic who gave what prosecutors described as an excessive amount of the powerful sedative. In March, Judge Mark Warner of Adams County District Court sentenced Mr. Cichuniec to five years in prison, the statutory minimum.

On Friday, the judge reduced the sentence to four years of probation. “The court finds, really, there are unusual and extenuating circumstances, and they are truly exceptional in this case,” the judge said in a hearing, according to The Denver Post, referring to a provision of Colorado’s mandatory sentencing law that allows modifications.

The judge noted Mr. Cichuniec’s lack of criminal history and his good character, according to The Post, and said that Mr. Cichuniec had to make quick decisions that night. He has been in custody since his conviction in December.

Prosecutors, who tried the five police officers and paramedics involved in Mr. McClain’s death, called the decision disappointing.

“After considering the evidence, a statewide grand jury indicted Cichuniec, and a jury of his peers found him guilty of his criminal acts that led to the death of Elijah McClain,” the Colorado Attorney General’s Office said in a statement. “We are disappointed the court reduced his sentence today, but we respect the court’s decision.”

Mr. Cichuniec’s wife, Katy Cichuniec, declined to comment.

On Aug. 24, 2019, Mr. McClain, a massage therapist, was returning home from a store in Aurora when he was stopped by police officers responding to a 911 caller who had described Mr. McClain as suspicious. At the time, he was waving his arms, dancing and wearing a mask, which his mother said he did to keep his face warm because he was anemic.

Three police officers and two paramedics were charged in his death and prosecuted in state court over three consecutive trials. Prosecutors argued that Mr. McClain’s death had been the result of excessive force used by police officers and of neglect by paramedics.

Randy Roedema, an Aurora police officer at the time, was sentenced to 14 months in a county jail. Jeremy Cooper, the paramedic working with Mr. Cichuniec, was sentenced to four years of probation with 14 months of work-release.

The cases against the paramedics, in particular, were considered a rare prosecution against emergency medical workers. It angered others in the profession who worried that their critical, split-second decisions could be criminalized.

At Mr. Cichuniec’s sentencing hearing in March, the judge noted that the paramedics should have conducted a better medical assessment before rendering the drug. But he also said Mr. Cichuniec appeared to have a high potential for rehabilitation.

In June, Mr. Cichuniec’s lawyers filed a motion to modify his sentence on the grounds of unusual and extenuating circumstances. Under state law, a court may modify a sentence under such circumstances, but the defendant must serve at least 119 days in a Department of Corrections facility.

Mr. McClain’s mother, Sheneen McClain, had been calling for justice for years. She said her son’s death had been avoidable and that all five police officers and paramedics were responsible. She declined to comment on the sentence reduction on Friday, though court filings from prosecutors noted that she had opposed the reduction.

Prosecutors had also objected, saying the reduction should not be applied in Mr. Cichuniec’s case because he had been convicted of a “particularly dangerous” form of second-degree assault, and because such a sentence reduction would undercut the jury’s decision.

“A sentence modification in this case will undermine the jury’s verdict,” prosecutors argued in a court filing in August, “the legislature’s mandatory sentencing scheme and the deterrence of the abuse of anesthetic drugs for improper purposes.”