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Former Aurora officer Randy Roedema first to be sentenced in death of Elijah McClain

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Elijah McClain Arraignment
Andy Cross/The Denver Post, Pool
Aurora Police officer Randy Roedema, right, during an arraignment in the Adams County district court at the Adams County Justice Center January 20, 2023. Aurora Police officers Nathan Woodyard, Randy Roedema and former officer Jason Rosenblatt along with paramedics Jeremy Cooper and Lt. Peter Cichuniec were indicted by a Colorado state grand jury in 2021 on 32 combined accounts related to Elijah McClain’s death in August 2019.

Randy Roedema, the Aurora police officer convicted in the death of Elijah McClain will be sentenced Friday. Roedema was found guilty of criminally negligent homicide for his part in violently restraining McClain. The 23-year-old massage therapist later was injected with the sedative ketamine, a dosage that was too high for his body weight. He died several days later.