AURORA, Colo. — A judge has ordered a now-former police officer convicted of killing Elijah McClain to reimburse the state more than $25,000 to help defray the costs of his prosecution, 9NEWS Investigates has learned.
The Colorado Attorney General’s Office had initially sought a court order requiring Randy Roedema to reimburse the state more than $67,000 – part of an effort to recover nearly $120,000 spent by prosecutors who took him and two now-former paramedics to trial and won convictions.
Almost all of those costs were attributed to fees paid to expert witnesses to both prepare for court and to testify in the case.
A separate motion is pending that would – if granted – compel former paramedics Peter Cichuniec and Jeremy Cooper to jointly reimburse the state more than $52,000.
“Expert witnesses do not come cheap,” 9NEWS legal analyst Scott Robinson said. “And if they have to come in from out of state, you got to put them up in a hotel, you got to feed them.”
Robinson said it’s common for a judge to issue an order requiring someone convicted of a crime to pay “costs of prosecution” – but it’s usually a relatively nominal amount, such as $50 to cover a blood-alcohol test in a DUI case.
The fatal confrontation with first responders that ended McClain’s life began the night of Aug. 23, 2019, when a 911 caller reported the man was wearing a mask and seemed “sketchy.”
McClain, walking home from a convenience store carrying a plastic sack with three cans of iced tea in it, was not armed and was not breaking any laws.
Aurora police officers Nathan Woodyard, Jason Rosenblatt and Roedema subdued him, using a neck hold that cut off oxygen to the brain and taking him to the ground. McClain vomited and inhaled some of it and began struggling to breathe.
Cichuniec and Cooper then injected McClain with the sedative ketamine, and a short time later his heart stopped.
Though paramedics restored his pulse, he died three days later without ever regaining consciousness.
The jury that found Roedema guilty of criminally negligent homicide and third-degree assault also acquitted Rosenblatt.
Rosenblatt’s acquittal led Adams County District Judge Mark Warner to reduce the amount prosecutors wanted Roedema to pay to reimburse the state for experts who testified at the joint trial. The judge also denied the request to reimburse the state for those experts’ pre-trial preparation and travel expenses.
A second jury acquitted Woodyard.
A third jury found Cichuniec guilty of second-degree assault and criminally negligent homicide and Cooper guilty of criminally negligent homicide.
Warner sentenced Roedema and Cooper to 14 months of jail – each was eligible for work release – and sentenced Cichuniec to five years in state prison.
Because Cichuniec and Cooper are pursuing appeals, Warner told prosecutors and defense attorneys to file opinions about whether he has jurisdiction to rule on the request to make the now-former medics reimburse the state.
Robinson said requests for large reimbursements for prosecution costs are rare because many people convicted of serious crimes are handed lengthy prison sentences – meaning they likely have no ability to pay.
“Obviously, if someone goes to prison for 30, 40, 50 years, getting the cost of prosecution order is meaningless,” Robinson said.
Just last week, a district judge in Weld County sentenced a man who caused a traffic crash that killed five people to 11 years in state prison. She also ordered him to pay $1,414.75 in prosecution costs.
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