Closing arguments wrapped on Tuesday afternoon in the trial for two Aurora officers, Randy Roedema and Jason Rosenblatt, who have pleaded not guilty to charges of manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and second-degree assault in connection with the arrest of Elijah McClain. McClain died a few days later.
The jury went into deliberations around 4:30 p.m. and will continue on Wednesday morning.
McClain, a 23-year-old massage therapist, encountered police on Aug. 24, 2019 after a person called 911 to report a “sketchy” man walking in Aurora. Officers with the Aurora Police Department (APD) responded and put McClain, who was unarmed and had not committed a crime, into a neck hold. Paramedics administered a sedative called ketamine, which officials said led to cardiac arrest on the way to the hospital. He was declared brain dead days later and died Aug. 30, 2019. A pathologist found he was given a higher dose of ketamine than recommended for somebody of his size and, as a result, he overdosed.
The City of Aurora settled a civil lawsuit with McClain's family in November 2021 for $15 million.
All five people facing jury trials pleaded not guilty to the charges against them in January 2023 in the wake of a grand jury indictment. In addition to Roedema and Rosenblatt, a third officer, Nathan Woodyard, has a trial beginning Oct. 13 for the charges against him of reckless manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and assault. He is accused of putting McClain in the carotid hold. Two Aurora Fire Rescue paramedics — Peter Cichuniec and Jeremy Cooper — have trials beginning Nov. 17 and 27, respectively, for charges of reckless manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and assault, plus sentence enhancers. The paramedics are accused of injecting a significant amount of ketamine into McClain, causing him to overdose.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE OF THE TRIAL:
Day 1 - Wednesday, Sept. 20
Day 2 - Thursday, Sept. 21
Day 3 - Friday, Sept. 22
(No court on Monday, Sept. 25)
Day 4 - Tuesday, Sept. 26
Day 5 - Wednesday, Sept. 27
Day 6 - Thursday, Sept. 28
Day 7 - Friday, Sept. 29
(No court on Monday, Oct. 2)
Day 8 - Tuesday, Oct. 3
Day 9 - Wednesday, Oct. 4
Day 10 - Thursday, Oct. 5
Day 11 - Friday, Oct. 6
(No court on Monday, Oct. 9)
Day 12 - Tuesday, Oct. 10
Scroll down to read updates from the Tuesday, Oct. 10 proceedings, which ended with the conclusion of closing arguments. Jury went into deliberations around 4:30 p.m. and will continue on Wednesday morning.
TUESDAY, OCT. 10
After both the people and defense rested their cases on Friday — and court was not in session on Monday — closing arguments began on Tuesday afternoon, following jury instruction at 12:30 p.m.
Prosecutors began their closing arguments around 1:30 p.m.
Special Assistant Attorney General Duane Lyons began by naming the man at the center of the case.
“His name was Elijah McClain and he was going home," he said. "He was somebody. He mattered. He deserved better.”
Nineteen minutes after Aurora police first contacted him, McClain would be transported to the hospital, where he died three days later, he said.
“It didn't have to happen. It didn't have to be that way for Mr. McClain," Lyons said.
He argued that defendants Roedema and Rosenblatt were both guilty of serious crimes because of how they handled McClain and the way they acted that evening.
Going back to the night of McClain's encounter with police, Lyons stressed that the prosecution fully believed police should have responded to the call about a suspicious person. However, it was the amount of force they used on McClain afterward that was the core of the issue.
They did not tell McClain why they had stopped him as they tried to bring him to the ground, Lyons said, adding that McClain was confused and scared.
Rosenblatt and Woodyard — the latter was the senior officer of the three who initially responded — applied the carotid hold and once McClain recovered, the defendants engaged in a series of assaults on him, Lyons said. That included slamming him to the ground while he was handcuffed, yanking his arm until it popped and pushing their knee into his back. All the while, McClain was compliant and pleading with them and not aggressive at all, Lyons said. He never fought against them, as seen in the body-worn camera (BWC) footage.
Lyons said the incident escalated after Roedema claimed McClain had reached for Rosenblatt's gun, which was in a secure holster. Lyons said there are reasons to be skeptical this happened, including because it is not seen in the BWC videos. He added that based on what the jury saw through the trial, McClain wasn't the type of person to grab for an officer's gun, and Rosenblatt never felt a tug from his holster.
Lyons said the defendants continued to inflict pain whenever McClain tried to move to breathe easier. He stressed that McClain was not fighting the officers and it was clear, with multiple additional officers at the scene, that he wasn't going to make an escape.
Over the 19 minutes after police contacted McClain, Lyons said the jury heard McClain speak less and less in the BWC footage because he had vomited into his mask and was low on oxygen. He told officers he could not breathe, but was ignored, Lyons said. Officers did not take pressure off of him or check his vitals, he said, which were all required per APD policy.
Once paramedics arrived, the defendants and Aurora Sgt. Dale Leonard — the officers' supervisor — did not provide information about McClain's inability to breathe. Otherwise, paramedics would have treated the situation differently as it would have been considered a medical emergency, Lyons said.
He said at 10:55 p.m., McClain uttered his last words: "Please help me." He went from speaking in full sentences to being non-responsive on the ground, Lyons said. Despite being unconscious, at 10:59 p.m., he was injected with ketamine by paramedics. Lyons said those paramedics had been misled by the defendants because they did not disclose McClain's condition.
"You don't give anesthetics to somebody who is having trouble breathing," he said.
After the injection, McClain was placed in the prone position for more than 90 seconds, which was the deadliest position he could be in, Lyons said.
Within moments of the injection, he was drowning in his own vomit, Lyons said. He said there is no dispute that McClain was repeatedly assaulted and suffered from serious bodily injury during the encounter.
Two doctors who testified during the trial said McClain died of complications of ketamine administration following forceful restraint, he said.
Lyons stressed that some key evidence is missing from this case because BWC were turned off, which goes against APD policy. He noted that are other policies the defendants did not follow, such as checking on McClain's vital signs and working to de-escalate the situation.
“They should have treated him as a someone, not a suspect," Lyons said. "As a person, not a perpetrator. They should have helped him when he asked and begged for them to help him.”
“This is not just a tragedy," he continued at the conclusion of his closing argument. "To say this is just a tragedy would be to trivialize what happened that evening. The defendants are guilty of the charges.”
Shortly after 2:15 p.m., the judge called for a 10-minute recess, after which the two defense attorneys presented their closing arguments.
Defense attorney Don Sisson, who represents Roedema, spoke first after the recess, acknowledging the case is tragic. But as Roedema's other attorney Reid Elkus had stated in the opening statements, Sisson noted that that does not mean it is criminal. He argued that the prosecution was relying on the jury's emotions, when they need to look only at the facts and law.
Roedema did not cause serious injury to McClain since he only used pain compliance techniques, Sisson said. If that was unwarranted, Sgt. Leonard, who arrived at the scene about three minutes after officers first approached McClain, would have seen that, stepped in, and could have been called by the prosecution to testify as such, he said.
Sisson also explained that police respond to a suspect's actions and that on that August evening, the officers had assessed McClain and acted in accordance with his behavior and their training.
He acknowledged that McClain had stated, "I can't breathe" numerous times, but also pointed out that the officers had instructed him to stop fighting and resisting a total of 34 times. The situation escalated after the alleged gun-grab, he said.
He reminded the jury that both defendants were cover officers for Woodyard and therefore were watching the area around them, which has a high crime rate, and McClain's hands while Woodyard contacted McClain directly. That alleged gun-grab, coupled with McClain's statement of "I intend to take my power back," and Roedema alerting Rosenblatt to the alleged grab sounded like an intent to get a gun, Sisson said.
Afterward, the BWC video showed Roedema telling Sgt. Leonard that McClain had gone for Rosenblatt's gun. Sisson said at no point did McClain or any officers dispute that statement. Roedema never seemed uncertain about what he saw.
He moved on to talk about the interaction of officers and paramedics. Sisson said Roedema was right next to McClain and visually monitoring his breathing, so there was never a concern about his pulse. And when McClain twisted out of the recovery position, Roedema put him back in the safe position, he said. In addition, it was Sgt. Leonard — not the defendants — who was responsible for providing information on McClain's condition to the paramedics, Sisson said.
The paramedics arrived at the scene at 10:50 p.m. and at that point, could make their own assessment of McClain. They were the ones who decided to administer the ketamine, Sisson said, and the three medical experts who testified all said it was the drug that killed McClain.
Of the 14 other law enforcement officers and paramedics at the scene that evening, the prosecution did not call any to the stand, Sisson said.
“If at any point any of those people had any concern, wouldn't they have intervened?" he asked. "Wouldn't they at least be here to tell you something went wrong?”
Sisson also noted that the prosecution claims Aurora officers are not permitted to turn off their BWC, but they actually can have a private conversation.
“In short, there is little doubt that the case is a tragedy, but if you take emotion out of this case, which is what you must do, it is clear the People fell woefully short," he concluded.
Defense attorney Harvey Steinberg, who is representing Rosenblatt, then stood in front of the jury. He said the evening of Aug. 24, 2019 took a turn after the officers moved McClain off rocks to the grass to take him to the ground.
“And then it all changes," he said. "It all changes in this story, folks, because McClain says, 'I’m going to take my power back. I’m going to — I’m going —' and then Rosenblatt hears from a more senior officer, ‘He’s going for your gun, dude.’ Words to that effect."
He added that seconds after Rosenblatt attempted the carotid hold and Woodyard successfully performed it, Rosenblatt called for paramedics to come to the scene. Within three minutes, Sgt. Leonard arrived at the scene, followed by Aurora Fire Rescue.
The prosecution is using Rosenblatt as a scapegoat, Steinberg claimed.
Like Sisson, Steinberg pointed to the experts who had said that McClain died because of the ketamine and if not for that drug, he would have likely recovered.
He concluded by asking the jury to find the defendant not guilty.
“That has to be the final chapter of this ugly, ugly, ugly story," he said.
In a rebuttal, Colorado Attorney General senior prosecutor Jason Slothouber said the two defendants had McClain's life in their hands that evening.
“There is not a single thing McClain could have done to save his life," he said.
Every time McClain said he cannot breathe, the defendants, along with Woodyard, yelled at him to stop fighting and resisting. They were the only people at the scene when McClain made those repeated statements, Slothouber said, but they did not take any action. Instead, they told paramedics that McClain was acting crazy and appeared to be "on something," he said.
When the paramedics said they planned to administer ketamine, the defendants did not mention McClain's breathing issues, he said. They said phrases to the effect of "sounds good."
Slothouber argued that the ketamine was deadly to McClain because of the defendants' actions, citing medical examiner Dr. Roger Mitchell's testimony from Oct. 5.
The defendants were intimately involved in every step of the encounter, he said.
Slothouber asked the jury to ponder multiple questions while in deliberation. First, he asked them to think of why McClain received ketamine in the first place. It's a drug both defendants are familiar with and know what it can do to a person. At the scene, when paramedic Cooper asked, "Did he (McClain) say anything?" Roedema answered by saying McClain was "definitely on something," Slothouber said, adding that Roedema could have mentioned McClain had repeatedly said he couldn't breathe.
He also asked how a person should be treated by law enforcement if they are in the recovery position. He said certainly not with a wrist turn, shoulder pop, yelling, being picked up and slammed on the ground, or a ketamine injection.
These issues go to the core of the case, he said. He also argued against the defense's statement that police had to make a split-second decision after encountering McClain. Slothouber said they had 18 minutes and 2 seconds to do what "they were trained to do" and instead let McClain deteriorate.
“The defendants failed training they were given and to provide obvious information to paramedics and that's ultimately why they failed Elijah McClain," he concluded.
The closing arguments ended around 4:30 p.m. and the jury was able to begin deliberations, which will continue at 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE OF THE TRIAL:
Day 1 - Wednesday, Sept. 20
Day 2 - Thursday, Sept. 21
Day 3 - Friday, Sept. 22
(No court on Monday, Sept. 25)
Day 4 - Tuesday, Sept. 26
Day 5 - Wednesday, Sept. 27
Day 6 - Thursday, Sept. 28
Day 7 - Friday, Sept. 29
(No court on Monday, Oct. 2)
Day 8 - Tuesday, Oct. 3
Day 9 - Wednesday, Oct. 4
Day 10 - Thursday, Oct. 5
Day 11 - Friday, Oct. 6
(No court on Monday, Oct. 9)
Day 12 - Tuesday, Oct. 10
