DENVER (AP) — A Colorado court has ordered new trials for two paramedics found guilty in the death of Elijah McClain, almost seven years after the Black man was pinned down by police and injected with a fatal dose of ketamine.
The rare homicide convictions of the two Aurora Fire Rescue paramedics sent shock waves through the ranks of first responders across the U.S. New trials would again train a spotlight on the use of ketamine to subdue struggling
suspects.
Colorado's attorney general has vowed to appeal Thursday's reversal of the homicide verdicts to the state supreme court, which could delay any new trials. Here's what to know:
The paramedics arrived at the scene after three police officers approached McClain, who had been listening to music on earbuds while walking home from a convenience store in the Denver suburb of Aurora in 2019. A 911 caller had said a Black man walking through the neighborhood was suspiciously waving his arms and seemed “sketchy.”
An officer put McClain in a neckhold and the paramedics injected him with ketamine before he suffered cardiac arrest on the way to the hospital. The 23-year-old massage therapist was taken off life support three days later.
McClain’s death led many EMS agencies to limit or ban the use of ketamine as a way to subdue people deemed combative.
The Colorado health department has since told paramedics not to give ketamine to people suspected of having a disputed condition that was invoked in McClain’s case. “Excited delirium” was described in a since-withdrawn emergency physicians’ report as manifesting symptoms including increased strength, but a doctors group has called it unscientific and rooted in racism.
A jury found the paramedics guilty in late 2023 after a weekslong trial in which prosecutors argued Cichuniec and Cooper failed to do basic medical checks, such as taking McClain’s pulse, before giving him the ketamine to help police subdue him.
Experts testified the dose was too much for McClain’s 140 pounds (64 kilograms). Prosecutors also argued the paramedics didn’t monitor McClain immediately after giving him the drug.
Cichuniec received a five-year sentence but was released early from prison in 2024 after a judge reduced his sentence to four years of probation. Cooper avoided prison and was sentenced to 14 months in jail with work release and probation.
The Colorado Court of Appeals on Thursday upheld Cichuniec’s assault conviction, but faulted the instructions given to jurors with respect to the criminally negligent homicide charges.
Those instructions included discussion of the “standard of care” paramedics must adhere to in situations such as when they encountered McClain, which, under Colorado’s criminally negligent homicide law, is what a “reasonable person” would do. The appellate judges said the trial judge erroneously refused to clarify the concept for jurors.
Thursday’s ruling sends their cases back to a lower court for a new trial on those counts, pending Attorney General Phil Weiser's planned appeal.
McClain’s death in 2019 foreshadowed the following year's police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, which set off protests across the U.S. and internationally.
While Floyd’s killing stirred criticism of police violence against unarmed Black men and policing policies for Black communities, McClain’s death expanded that scrutiny to paramedics and firefighters working in the field.
Activists say Wednesday’s appeals court rulings keep Colorado’s Black community from healing.
One of the officers was convicted of homicide and third degree assault in McClain’s death, while two other officers were acquitted on charges including homicide and manslaughter.
The reversal of the paramedics’ homicide convictions now reopens a wound that hasn't fully healed in the years since McClain was killed, a Denver activist group, the Epitome of Black Excellence, said in a statement.
“We who believe in freedom cannot rest until the killing of a black man, a Black mother’s son, is the same as the killing of a white man, a white mother’s son,” said MiDian Shofner, CEO of the Epitome of Black Excellence and Partnership, at a news conference Friday. “This nation as of yesterday morning should be restless.”
The paramedic's 2023 trial delved into largely uncharted legal territory since it's exceedingly rare for EMS providers to be charged criminally while providing care. Normally, that's treated as a medical malpractice issue, which is civil.
Firefighters and officials from their union sharply criticized the state’s prosecution, saying it was putting lives at risk by discouraging firefighters from becoming paramedics and decreasing the number of qualified personnel in emergencies.
Experts warned it also could make responders pause during critical moments when they have to make split-second decisions that can determine life or death.
University of Miami criminologist Alex Piquero said he's unaware of any analysis that would show whether paramedics have changed their behavior as a result of this case.
“They’re always doing the best that they can do under the circumstances,” Piquero said.
But new trials could revive second guessing among first responders when dealing with patients in police custody, he said.
“I think we have to wait to see what that outcome is going to be. But I think this brings it back fresh: ‘Oh, my gosh. Here we go again. Should I alter my behavior?’”
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Brown reported from Billings, Montana and Gruver reported from Fort Collins, Colorado.
