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By Brad Brooks
LONGMONT, Colorado – A Colorado judge announced on Friday a decision to reduce the prison sentence of a paramedic convicted in the 2019 death of Elijah McClain, a young Black man whose life was tragically cut short after police placed him in a chokehold. During a court hearing, Judge Mark Warner, who presided over three trials related to McClain’s death, changed the sentence for emergency medical worker Peter Cichuniec to four years of probation, according to Suzanne Karrer, a spokesperson for the Colorado judicial branch.
In March, Judge Warner had originally sentenced Cichuniec to five years in prison, which was the harshest penalty given among the law enforcement and medical personnel involved in McClain’s case. The timing of Cichuniec’s release remains uncertain.
During the brief hearing, Warner remarked on the "unusual and extenuating circumstances" that he felt were exceptional in this particular situation.
After repeated requests for comment, there was no response from the Colorado attorney general’s office, which handled the prosecution of the McClain cases, nor from lawyers representing Cichuniec.
In December, jurors found Cichuniec, 51, guilty of criminally negligent homicide and second-degree assault, marking a rare instance in which paramedics faced trial for their actions. Cichuniec’s partner, Jeremy Cooper, 49, was also convicted of criminally negligent homicide, receiving a sentence of 14 months of work release.
Their joint trial was the final one among three associated with McClain’s death, which occurred when he was stopped by police despite not being accused of any wrongdoing.
Additionally, one police officer was convicted of criminally negligent homicide and received a 14-month jail sentence, while two other officers were acquitted.
Initially, local prosecutors chose not to file charges in the McClain case, but this stance changed following the highly publicized killing of George Floyd in May 2020.
