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**Paramedic Released After Sentence Reduction in Elijah McClain Case**
A paramedic convicted in the 2019 death of Elijah McClain has been freed from prison after a judge reduced his sentence on Friday.
Peter Cichuniec, 51, had been held responsible for administering a fatal overdose of ketamine to the 23-year-old McClain following a police encounter in Aurora, Colorado, in August 2019. In December 2023, Cichuniec was found guilty of second-degree assault and criminally negligent homicide.
Originally sentenced by Judge Mark Warner in March to five years for assault and one year for criminally negligent homicide, to be served concurrently, Cichuniec had potentially faced up to 16 years behind bars. However, on Friday, the judge reclassified the sentence to four years of probation, consistent with state law provisions allowing sentence modifications after 119 days served. Cichuniec had already received 70 days’ credit for time served.
A spokesperson confirmed to ABC News on Friday that Cichuniec is no longer in the custody of the Colorado Department of Corrections. Judge Warner cited “unusual and extenuating circumstances” for his decision, although Colorado Attorney General Philip Weiser, who prosecuted the case, opposed the sentence reduction, emphasizing it might undermine the jury’s verdict and stressing that no profession should be immune from prosecution for unlawful actions.
The ruling was met with disappointment by the Attorney General’s Office but relief by the International Association of Fire Fighters, which supported Cichuniec throughout the trial.
McClain’s case, which gained national attention after George Floyd’s death in 2020, involved multiple parties. Cichuniec’s co-defendant, paramedic Jeremy Cooper, received four years of probation, while former officer Randy Roedema was sentenced to 14 months in jail. Two other officers, Jason Rosenblatt and Nathan Woodyard, were acquitted.
On the night of August 24, 2019, police confronted McClain, who was wearing a ski mask and walking home from a store. Police restrained McClain, who was unarmed, after a 911 caller reported suspicious behavior. Once EMTs arrived, McClain was administered 500 milligrams of ketamine and suffered a heart attack in the ambulance, eventually dying on August 30 after being declared brain dead.
An amended autopsy report cited “complications of ketamine administration following forcible restraint” as McClain’s cause of death, with the manner still listed as “undetermined.”
Prosecutors argued that Cichuniec and Cooper did not adequately assess McClain before administering the ketamine, critiquing them for waiting six minutes to check his pulse post-administration. Cichuniec’s defense maintained that their actions followed protocol.