Jury finds senior officer guilty in wrongful death of Elijah McClain

By James On Oct 13, 2023

Jurors on Thursday found a Denver-area police officer guilty of murder and acquitted another of all charges in the 2019 death of Elijah McClain, a black man who was placed in a neck restraint, pinned to the ground and ‘ An overdose of the sedative ketamine was given by paramedics.

Aurora Police Officer Randy Roedema was found guilty by a 12-man jury of criminally negligent homicide and third-degree assault. They found Officer Jason Rosenblatt not guilty.

Mr. Roedema, who kept his head bowed after the verdict was read, faces up to three years in prison on the more serious manslaughter charge. Mr. Rosenblatt hugged his supporters as he walked out of court.

Mr. McClain’s mother listened to the verdict from the front row, where Attorney General Phil Weiser had his hand on her shoulder. Sheneen McClain held her right hand up in a raised fist as she left the courtroom. She expressed disappointment in the ruling.

“This is the divided states of America, and this is what’s happening,” she said as she walked away from the courthouse.

Mr. McClain was stopped by police after a suspicious person was reported as he was walking home from a convenience store. His name became a rallying cry in protests over racial injustice in policing.

Mr. Roedema and Mr. Rosenblatt was charged with manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and second-degree assault – all felonies. However, during deliberations, the jury was asked to find a lesser form of assault for Mr. Roedema to consider, the one he was convicted of.

A third Aurora officer, who administered the neck blow, and two paramedics were indicted on similar charges, but the paramedics face more charges. The officer’s trial begins Friday with jury selection and the paramedics are scheduled for trial later this year.

Mr. Roedema and another officer who was not charged, Mr. McClain was restrained while paramedics administered the ketamine. Mr. Rosenblatt’s lawyer pointed out during the trial that his client was not close to Mr. McClain was not at that point in the confrontation.

Prosecutors claimed Mr. Rosenblatt told Mr. McClain’s legs were held when he was on the ground, but walked away shortly before the sedative was administered while Mr. Roedema Mr. held McClain’s shoulder and back. Mr. Roedema, the most senior of the three officers, was often visible in the body camera footage shown over and over to jurors. Sometimes he seemed to be directing others what to do.

Lawyers for both defendants pointed to the ketamine as the cause of Mr. McClain’s death. Mr. Roedema’s lawyer said the officers were forced to respond when Mr. McClain resisted and allegedly reached for the gun of one of the officers, a claim prosecutors disputed.

Don Sisson, a defense attorney for Mr. Roedema, said officers must act immediately to protect themselves.

“They didn’t watch the video over and over and over for three weeks before acting,” he said during closing statements on Tuesday.

As the split verdict was read, Mr. Roedema’s wife forwards in her seat with her head down while Rosenblatt’s wife pats her back. Mr. Sisson declined to comment after the verdict was issued.

Judge Mark Warner set sentencing for January 5, 2024.

The three officers who were charged were the first on the scene and those who Mr. took McClain to the ground.

At least three officers who have not been charged were involved at some point during the confrontation to arrest Mr. restraining McClain. One of them, Officer Alicia Ward, testified as a prosecution witness that she pressed her knuckles against Mr. McClain held his head and was willing to put pressure on it. But she said she didn’t feel like she needed to because she had mr. McClain was not considered a threat at the time.

The case initially did not receive widespread attention, but protests over the killing of George Floyd the following year sparked anger over Mr. McClain’s death. His pleas captured on body cam footage, “I’m an introvert and I’m different,” struck a chord.

A local prosecutor decided against criminal charges in 2019 because the coroner’s office could not determine exactly how the 23-year-old massage therapist died. But Colorado Gov. Jared Polis ordered state Attorney General Phil Weiser to look into the case again in 2020, and the officers and paramedics were indicted by a grand jury in 2021.

The murders of Mr. McClain, Mr. Floyd and others have sparked a wave of legislation that has placed restrictions on the use of neck braces in more than two dozen states. Colorado is now telling paramedics not to give ketamine to people suspected of having a controversial condition known as excited delirium, which has symptoms including increased force associated with racial bias against black men.

Aurora Police Chief Art Acevedo said the department respects the jury’s verdict, adding “we must be committed to the rule of law.”

Mr. Roedema and Mr. Rosenblatt did not testify in their defense at trial. Their lawyers have mr. McClain’s death was blamed on the ketamine, which doctors said eventually killed him.

However, prosecutors argued that the officers’ restraint of Mr. McClain contributed. Senior Assistant Attorney General Jason Slothouber told jurors that Mr. Roedema and Mr. Rosenblatt also encouraged the paramedics to Mr. McClain to give ketamine by describing him as having symptoms of excited delirium that they learned about during training. But he said the officers did not tell them anything about Mr. McClain’s complaints of not being able to breathe, something that prosecutors say happened six times.

Sheneen McClain sat in the front row of the courtroom with attorneys for the state during the trial, part of her effort to remind the mostly white jury that her son was a real person. She watched the encounter replayed over and over along with graphic photos of his autopsy.

During testimony that spanned three weeks, witnesses were limited to presenting what they “observed” someone doing or saying in the video. The video clips did not always provide a complete picture of what was happening, but Judge Warner said the jurors were the only ones who could decide what they meant, just like any other piece of evidence.

McClain was stopped on August 24, 2019 while listening to music and wearing a mask that covered most of his face. He asked to be left alone and was not accused of any crime.

The encounter quickly escalated, with Officers Nathan Woodyard, Roedema and Rosenblatt attacking Mr. McClain took to the ground, and Mr. Woodyard put him in a neck hold and pressed against his carotid artery, rendering him temporarily unconscious. The officers told investigators they found Mr. McClain after hearing that Mr. Roedema tells another officer: “He grabbed your gun, man.”