Elijah McClain Case: Convictions, Settlement, and Colorado Law Changes

The Elijah McClain case is the prosecution and civil fallout from the August 2019 death of a 23-year-old Black man in Aurora, Colorado, who died after three police officers restrained him with a carotid hold and two paramedics injected him with an overdose of ketamine. Of the five people charged, one officer was convicted and is appealing, two officers were acquitted, and both paramedics were convicted of criminally negligent homicide before a state appeals court reversed those verdicts in June 2026. A $15 million civil settlement with the city of Aurora was finalized in 2021, and the case drove sweeping changes to Colorado law on police use of force, ketamine sedation, and the “excited delirium” diagnosis.

What Happened on August 24, 2019

McClain, a massage therapist and self-taught violinist, was walking home from a convenience store carrying iced tea when a 911 caller reported someone in a ski mask who “looks sketchy.” He had an anemic condition that made him sensitive to cold and often wore a face covering outside.¹

Officers Nathan Woodyard, Jason Rosenblatt, and Randy Roedema stopped him. Body-camera audio captured McClain telling them, “I am an introvert. Please respect my boundaries that I am speaking.” When he kept walking, officers grabbed him and took him to the ground. Roedema held him down with his full weight and pulled his arms back until, according to later trial testimony, his shoulder “popped.”² Woodyard applied a carotid hold, cutting off blood flow to McClain’s brain. McClain briefly lost consciousness, vomited, and repeatedly said he could not breathe.³

Because a carotid hold had been used, Aurora Fire Rescue paramedics were called. Paramedic Jeremy Cooper diagnosed McClain with “excited delirium” without a physical assessment or a pulse check.⁴ Cooper and paramedic Peter Cichuniec then injected him with 500 milligrams of ketamine. McClain weighed roughly 143 pounds, and the standard dose of five milligrams per kilogram would have been about 325 milligrams. The paramedics said they had estimated his weight at 200 to 220 pounds.⁵

McClain became unconscious and limp after the injection, stopped breathing, and lost his pulse in the ambulance. A pulse was regained at the University of Colorado Medical Center, but he never regained consciousness. He was declared brain-dead and taken off life support on August 30, 2019.³

How He Died

The initial November 2019 autopsy by forensic pathologist Dr. Steven Cina listed both cause and manner of death as “undetermined,” pointing to “intense physical exertion” and a narrowed coronary artery as possible factors.⁶

After reviewing body-camera footage and other evidence during the grand jury investigation, Dr. Cina amended the report. Released publicly in September 2022, the amended autopsy dropped the artery finding, noting McClain had been a distance runner in good physical condition, and identified the cause of death as “complications of ketamine administration following forcible restraint.” The chief coroner stated, “I believe that Mr. McClain would most likely be alive but for the administration of ketamine.” The manner of death remained undetermined.⁷

Why Charges Took Two Years

In November 2019, Adams County District Attorney Dave Young declined to file criminal charges, citing inconclusive evidence about the cause of death.⁸ The case drew little attention until the summer of 2020, when protests over the police killing of George Floyd revived it. A Change.org petition demanding justice for McClain gathered 5.6 million signatures.⁹

Governor Jared Polis appointed Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser as special prosecutor and directed him to reopen the case. Weiser convened a statewide grand jury in January 2021, and in September 2021 it returned a 32-count indictment against all three responding officers and both paramedics. Each defendant was charged with manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide; all five also faced counts of second-degree assault and a crime of violence.⁸

What Happened to the Officers

Officers Roedema and Rosenblatt were tried together. In October 2023, a jury convicted Randy Roedema of criminally negligent homicide and third-degree assault, choosing the lesser charges over reckless manslaughter. Jason Rosenblatt was acquitted on all charges. Rosenblatt had already been fired in 2020 in connection with a scandal over officers posing for photos mimicking the carotid hold near the site where McClain was stopped.¹⁰

Nathan Woodyard was tried separately. On November 6, 2023, a jury found him not guilty of both reckless manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide.¹⁰

On January 5, 2024, Adams County District Judge Mark Warner sentenced Roedema to 14 months in county jail with work release, four years of probation, and 200 hours of community service. Warner acknowledged Roedema’s “good character” and “rehabilitative potential” but cited what he called the “shocking indifference to the life of Elijah McClain” shown during the encounter.¹¹ Sheneen McClain, the victim’s mother, told the court in a victim impact statement, “Elijah McClain will always be the hero. Randy Roedema stole my son’s life.”¹²

Roedema filed a notice of appeal in February 2024. His attorneys argue the trial judge erred in overruling a challenge to jury selection and that the indictment should have been dismissed because of alleged errors in grand jury instructions. An appellate hearing was held in July 2025, and the case remains pending.¹³

What Happened to the Paramedics

Cooper and Cichuniec were tried together. In December 2023, a jury convicted both paramedics of criminally negligent homicide. The jury also convicted Cichuniec of second-degree assault for administering the ketamine but acquitted Cooper of that charge. Cichuniec was sentenced to five years in prison; Cooper received 14 months in jail with work release and probation. In 2024, Judge Warner reduced Cichuniec’s sentence to four years of probation after he had served roughly four months, citing “unusual and extenuating circumstances.”¹⁴

On June 4, 2026, the Colorado Court of Appeals reversed both paramedics’ criminally negligent homicide convictions and ordered new trials on that charge. The court found the trial judge had failed to properly instruct the jury on the standard of care. Because the defendants were paramedics, the appellate court held, the relevant question was not what a “reasonable person” would have done but what a reasonable paramedic in Aurora in 2019, treating a patient in McClain’s condition, would have done. The trial court had rejected a defense request for that instruction and did not clarify even after the jury sent a note during deliberations saying they did not understand which standard to apply.¹⁵¹⁶ Cichuniec’s second-degree assault conviction was upheld.¹⁷

Both paramedics had already completed their sentences by the time of the ruling and are free.⁴ Attorney General Weiser announced his office would appeal the reversal to the Colorado Supreme Court, with a filing deadline of July 16, 2026.¹⁸

The $15 Million Civil Settlement

In August 2020, Sheneen McClain filed a federal civil rights lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Denver against the city of Aurora and roughly a dozen police and fire department employees. The Aurora City Council approved a $15 million settlement in July 2021, and the agreement was finalized after a mediation hearing in November 2021. Aurora’s excess liability insurance covered $10 million; $5 million came from the city’s general fund. The proceeds were divided between Sheneen McClain, who received 65 percent, and McClain’s father, LaWayne Mosley, who received 35 percent.¹⁹²⁰

Colorado Laws That Changed Because of the Case

McClain’s death drove several major changes to Colorado law.

SB 20-217, the “Enhance Law Enforcement Integrity” act signed by Governor Polis on June 19, 2020, banned carotid holds and chokeholds statewide. It also created a duty for officers to intervene in unlawful force by colleagues, with criminal penalties and loss of certification for failure to act, mandated body-worn cameras, created a public use-of-force database, eliminated qualified immunity as a defense in state civil rights lawsuits, and restricted projectiles and chemical agents at protests. It passed the state Senate 32-1 and the House 52-13.²¹

HB 21-1251, passed in 2021, required first responders to estimate a person’s weight before administering ketamine, mandated advanced airway training, and prohibited law enforcement from pressuring paramedics to administer the drug.²²

On April 4, 2024, Polis signed HB24-1103, making Colorado the second state after California to ban the “excited delirium” diagnosis paramedics had used to justify sedating McClain. The law prohibits law enforcement and EMS training programs from including the term except to teach its history, bars officers from using it in incident reports, and bars coroners from listing it as a cause of death.²³

Separately, Attorney General Weiser’s office reached a consent decree with Aurora in November 2021 after concluding that the police and fire departments engaged in patterns of racially biased policing, excessive force, and unlawful ketamine administration. The decree requires overhauled use-of-force and de-escalation training, greater transparency, and oversight by an independent monitor, IntegrAssure, whose contract runs through February 2027. Because it is a state-level agreement, the decree is unaffected by federal decisions on federal consent decrees.²⁴²⁵

Where the Case Stands in 2026

Officers Rosenblatt and Woodyard were acquitted and face no further criminal liability. Randy Roedema’s convictions for criminally negligent homicide and third-degree assault stand but are under appeal, with a ruling pending from the Colorado Court of Appeals.¹⁸ For the paramedics, the criminally negligent homicide convictions have been vacated, and the Attorney General is asking the Colorado Supreme Court to reinstate them. Peter Cichuniec’s second-degree assault conviction remains intact. Both Cooper and Cichuniec are free, having already completed their sentences.⁴

1
BlackPast. Elijah McClain (1996-2019)
2
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CPR News. Elijah McClain Paramedic Verdicts Overturned
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Denver7. Elijah McClain Case Coroner Questioned on Cause of Death in Amended Autopsy Report
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NBC News. Former Colorado Police Officer Convicted Killing Elijah McClain Sentenced
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Courthouse News Service. Ex-Colorado Police Officer Appeals Conviction in Death of Elijah McClain
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PBS NewsHour. Homicide Convictions Reversed for Paramedics Who Injected Elijah McClain With Ketamine
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Colorado Sun. Colorado Appeal Court Reverses Convictions of Aurora Paramedics in Elijah McClain Case
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CNN. Elijah McClain Paramedics Convictions Reversed
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Denver Gazette. AG to Appeal Order for Retrial of Paramedics in Elijah McClain Case to Colorado Supreme Court
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Colorado Sun. Aurora Elijah McClain Settlement
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FindLaw. Sheneen McClain v. Killmer Lane Newman
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Colorado General Assembly. SB20-217 Enhance Law Enforcement Integrity
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Colorado Sun. Ways Colorado Laws Have Changed to Prevent a Death Like Elijah McClain
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Colorado General Assembly. HB24-1103 Prohibiting Term Excited Delirium
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Denver Gazette. Aurora Consent Decree to Remain Despite End of Federal Police Consent Decrees
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