ADAMS COUNTY, Colo. — An Adams County district court judge on Friday overturned the mandatory prison sentence of a former Aurora paramedic who was convicted in the 2019 death of Elijah McClain.
Peter Cichuniec, who was convicted in late December 2023 of criminally negligent homicide alongside Aurora paramedic Jeremy Cooper, was also found guilty of second-degree assault by unlawful administration of drugs. Cooper was acquitted of that charge.
In March, Judge Mark Warner sentenced Cichuniec to five years in prison for the assault charge — the mandatory minimum sentence under sentencing guidelines. Cichuniec was also sentenced to one year in prison for the criminally negligent homicide charge, which was to be served concurrently.
Six months later, Warner vacated Cichuniec's sentence and converted it to four years of probation.
According to our partners at The Denver Post, Cichuniec's defense team filed a motion in June asking that the sentence be reduced because the case involved "unusual and exceptional" circumstances. The Denver Post states Warner could reduce the sentence under state law after Cichuniec spent at least 119 days in prison and after the Colorado Department of Corrections assessed his risk level and reported back to the judge, which both happened.
The Denver Post reports that Warner "commented on Cichuniec’s lack of prior criminal history, rehabilitative potential, good character and his prior “pro-social” history, as well as his overall role in the events that led to McClain’s death" when issuing his ruling Friday.
The Colorado Attorney General's Office, which prosecuted the case, filed a brief opposing the sentence change.
"A sentence modification in this case will undermine the jury’s verdict, the legislature’s mandatory sentencing scheme, and the deterrence of the abuse of anesthetic drugs for improper purposes," the document reads.
In its brief, the AG's office said it was "exceptionally rare" for a mandatory prison sentence to be reduced under the state's provision. Since 1977, only 203 sentences have been modified under the statute, according to the AG's office.
Denver7 sat down with criminal defense attorney Ryan Brackley to provide context to the judge's decision.
"I think that's the most plain English way to say it. The judge, looking at Mr. Cichuniec's past, his current presence in the Department of Corrections, decided this guy doesn't belong in state prison," explained Brackley.
Colorado's sentencing guidelines dictated that Cichuniec had to be sentenced to anywhere from five to 16 years in prison.
"He was convicted of a crime to which the judge could not sentence him to anything less than five years," Brackley explained.
Another state statute, however, allows the judge to modify the sentence under certain circumstances.
"In this particular case, the defense argued that based on his conduct in the Department of Corrections, based on the Department of Corrections' assessment of him as not a high risk or a serious threat, based on his standing in the community, his lack of criminal history, those were unusual and extenuating circumstances which would allow the court to modify his sentence away from a prison sentence to a sentence such as probation, which is what the court did," Brackley said.
Cichuniec's conviction still stands. Instead of spending five years in prison, he will serve four years of probation.
"He will be on probation, and he will, for the rest of his life, have a conviction for what amounts to a violent felony," Brackley said.
Brackley said the move highlights the inconsistency in which the cases against the Aurora paramedics and police officers were charged and prosecuted.
"The law says [Cichuniec] should do five years in prison. On the other hand, a judge found that probation was appropriate. So when we talk about deterrence and sending a message, again, we're in this gray area, and there were a lot of gray areas in this case," the attorney said.
Elijah McClain | 360 In-Depth Coverage
The modification weighs heavily MiDian Shofner, who walked out of the courthouse alongside McClain's mother with her fist held high after Cichuniec's sentencing.
"I think the first thing that I said to myself out loud was, 'Probation is not justice. It's not justice,'" said Shofner, who is the CEO of Epitome of Black Excellence & Partnership.
Shofner said it's a hard pill to swallow knowing the minimum sentence, handed down just months ago, was seen as too harsh.
"For some reason, our lives are negotiable when it comes to justice in the system that we have," she said.
Cichuniec was incarcerated at the Sterling Correctional Facility in northeast Colorado, according to The Denver Post. A spokesperson for the Colorado Department of Corrections said he is no longer in custody.
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