AURORA, Colo. — Ever since Elijah McClain's death four years and four months ago, Sheneen McClain has carried on her son's voice. Even in the moments where she had to wait silently, like when word came late Friday afternoon that there was a verdict in the last of three trials.
A jury found Peter Cichuniec and Jeremy Cooper both guilty of criminally negligent homicide. Cichuniec was found guilty on a second-degree assault charge. He was acquitted of another assault charge. Cooper was acquitted on the two assault charges he had faced.
After court had adjourned, Sheneen McClain exited the courthouse escorted by family friends Omar Montgomery and MiDian Holmes. With her fist raised, Sheneen and others chanted Elijah's name.
>Below: Community and state leaders give statements after paramedics found guilty.
As the jury deliberated in the trial of two paramedics who gave Elijah McClain ketamine on the night of his death in 2019, his mother says "there is no excuse for the lack of accountability" for the actions of all those involved.
Sheneen McClain released a statement Friday ahead of the verdict.
It reads in part:
"No amount of procedures, practices, protocols, or the lack of training for service jobs will ever replace the human heart. I am sure that if Elijah had been one of their children, family members, friends, or comrades, they would not have been so indifferent to what was happening, like they were with my son."
Her full statement is below.
The two Aurora Fire Rescue paramedics injected Elijah McClain with ketamine after a struggle with three Aurora officers in 2019. McClain's heart stopped and he later died. Both men are charged with reckless manslaughter and multiple counts of assault.
The paramedics are the last two of the five men indicted in McClain's death to go to trial. In the first trial, a jury returned a split verdict for Aurora officers Randy Roedema and Jason Rosenblatt. Roedema was found guilty of criminally negligent homicide and third-degree assault and will be sentenced in January. That same jury acquitted Rosenblatt of all charges. Officer Nathan Woodyard was acquitted in a separate trial.
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