Not guilty pleas entered as trial dates set for Elijah McClain case
All of the defendants entered pleas of not guilty as their trial dates were set in the Elijah McClain case. On Friday, all five defendants, including three former Aurora police officers and two former Aurora paramedics, entered not guilty pleas in an Adams County Court.
McClain was confronted by officers on Aug. 24, 2019 after a call to report a suspicious person wearing a mask near Colfax Avenue and Billings Street. He was walking home with groceries while wearing a ski mask at the time, something his family said was not uncommon as they say he was anemic and frequently felt cold.
McClain suffered cardiac arrest and was declared brain dead before being taken off life support on Aug. 30, 2019, six days after the violent encounter with Aurora police and medics.
On the initial autopsy report, McClain's cause of death read "undetermined," however that report was amended to read that he died of complications of ketamine administration following forcible restraint.
In September 2021, a statewide grand jury indicted three Aurora officers and two paramedics in McClain's death after administering ketamine to him.
Former Aurora Police officers Nathan Woodyard, Randy Roedema and Jason Rosenblatt, as well as former paramedics Jeremy Cooper and Peter Cichuniec, have been charged with 32 counts of manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide. Additionally, Roedema and Rosenblatt have been each indicted on one count of assault and one count of crime of violence, while Cooper and Cichuniec have been each indicted on three counts of assault and six counts of crime of violence.
All entered not guilty pleas in court on Friday.
The trial for Roedema and Rosenblatt has been scheduled to begin on July 11. The trial for Cooper and Cichuniec has been scheduled to begin on Aug. 7. The trial for Woodyard has been scheduled to begin on Sept. 18.
The attorneys for Sheneen McClain, Elijah McClain's mother, announced the family reached a settlement with the city of Aurora in November 2021.
