{"id":429,"date":"2026-06-04T19:33:37","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T19:33:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coloradorelocationreport.com\/?p=429"},"modified":"2026-06-04T19:33:37","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T19:33:37","slug":"colorado-appeals-court-reverses-convictions-of-2-former-paramedics-in-2019-death-of-elijah-mcclain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coloradorelocationreport.com\/?p=429","title":{"rendered":"Colorado appeals court reverses convictions of 2 former paramedics in 2019 death of Elijah McClain"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>The Colorado Court of Appeals on Thursday reversed the homicide convictions of two former Aurora paramedics charged in the 2019 death of Elijah McClain and ordered new trials.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/coloradorelocationreport.com\/?p=427\">What to do in Colorado this week: Pride parades and doggy drag shows in Denver and beyond<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Paramedic Peter Cichuniec, the senior medical responder on the scene, and Jeremy Cooper, who injected McClain with ketamine, were both convicted of criminally negligent homicide in December 2023.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>McClain, a 23-year-old Black massage therapist, died after he was forcibly detained by Aurora police while walking home from a convenience store. After officers claimed McClain was resisting, the paramedics injected him with an overdose of the sedative ketamine.<\/p>\n<p>He went into cardiac arrest while en route to the hospital and died three days later.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>On Thursday, the Colorado Court of Appeals ruled that the trial judge gave jurors incorrect instructions about the legal standard they should use when considering the criminally negligent homicide charge, according to the court\u2019s published opinion. The appeals court also said the judge should have provided additional guidance after jurors told the court they were unsure how to apply that standard.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/coloradorelocationreport.com\/?p=425\">Owner of one of Colorado\u2019s biggest ranches says her employee killed a wolf<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Cooper, who had faced up to three years in prison, was sentenced to probation. A judge originally sentenced Cichuniec to five years in prison, but later vacated that sentence after he served 10 months. He was resentenced to four years of probation.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Their convictions sent shockwaves through the ranks of paramedics and medical professionals across the U.S. It thrust their profession into the acrimonious fight over social justice sparked by the 2020 murder of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis.<\/p>\n<p>The jury also found Cichuniec guilty of second-degree assault. The Court of Appeals upheld that conviction.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/coloradorelocationreport.com\/?p=423\">Where the Republican candidates for Colorado\u2019s 3rd Congressional District stand on the top issues before the primary<\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>This is a developing story that will be updated.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A jury found Peter Cichuniec, the senior medical responder, and Jeremy Cooper, who injected McClain with ketamine, guilty of criminally negligent homicide in 2023<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":428,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Colorado appeals court reverses convictions of 2 former paramedics in 2019 death of Elijah McClain - Colorado Relocation Report<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/coloradorelocationreport.com\/?p=429\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Colorado appeals court reverses convictions of 2 former paramedics in 2019 death of Elijah McClain - Colorado Relocation Report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A jury found Peter Cichuniec, the senior medical responder, and Jeremy Cooper, who injected McClain with ketamine, guilty of criminally negligent homicide in 2023\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/coloradorelocationreport.com\/?p=429\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colorado Relocation Report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-04T19:33:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradorelocationreport.com\\\/?p=429#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradorelocationreport.com\\\/?p=429\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradorelocationreport.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/144e01590ba7a61cfe6fd08a0fa7a482\"},\"headline\":\"Colorado appeals court reverses convictions of 2 former paramedics in 2019 death of Elijah McClain\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-04T19:33:37+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradorelocationreport.com\\\/?p=429\"},\"wordCount\":343,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradorelocationreport.com\\\/?p=429#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradorelocationreport.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/22d0a33f88897d8e301614b96230c7d7-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradorelocationreport.com\\\/?p=429#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradorelocationreport.com\\\/?p=429\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradorelocationreport.com\\\/?p=429\",\"name\":\"Colorado appeals court reverses convictions of 2 former paramedics in 2019 death of Elijah McClain - 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JANUARY 20: Paramedics Jeremy Cooper, left, and Peter Cichuniec, right, at an arraignment in 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 Peter Cichuniec were indicted by a Colorado state grand jury in 2021 on 32 combined accounts related to Elijah McClain\u00d5s arrest and death in August 2019. 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JANUARY 20: Paramedics Jeremy Cooper, left, and Peter Cichuniec, right, at an arraignment in 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 Peter Cichuniec were indicted by a Colorado state grand jury in 2021 on 32 combined accounts related to Elijah McClain\u00d5s arrest and death in August 2019. 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