Bringing Harry Chapin’s “30,000 Pounds of Bananas” to life, 26-year-old tracker-trailer driver received a 110 year sentence for a 2018 accident that killed four people after the truck’s brakes failed at the top of a mountain hill on I-70 near Lakewood, Colorado, the Denver Post reports.

District Court Judge Bruce Jones noted that his hands were tied on the length of the sentence, which is significantly longer than that imposed on criminals who commit rape and murder in the state.  “I will state that if I had the discretion, it would not be my sentence,” the judge said.

On April 15, 2019, Rogel Aguilera-Mederos lost his breaks at the top of a mountain on I-70.  As his truck, which apparently was not filled with 15 tons of bananas, careened down the highway, Aguilera-Mederos missed an exit for a runaway-truck ramp.  His semi then slammed into cars stopped in traffic at the bottom of the hill, causing a 27-car pile-up and killing four. 

In October, Aguilera-Mederos was found guilty of four counts of vehicular homicide, six counts of first-degree assault, 10 counts of attempted first-degree assault, four counts of careless driving causing death, two counts of vehicular assault and one count of reckless driving.

Jones noted that the sentence was out-of-line with other prison terms imposed, mainly because rules required the minimum sentence.  “I would say that perhaps the legislature, in imposing a requirement of consecutive sentences, had in mind that there might be cases where a judge should give it further consideration after hearing from the Department of Corrections, and this may very well be one of those cases,” Jones said.

“I am not a criminal,” Aguilera-Mederos said, weeping, during the sentencing hearing. “I am not a murderer. I am not a killer. When I look at my charges, we are talking about a murderer, which is not me. I have never thought about hurting anybody in my entire life.”