Colorado Appeals Court Orders New Trials for Paramedics in Elijah McClain Case

An appeals court in Colorado has overturned the homicide convictions of two paramedics involved in the 2019 death of Elijah McClain. Mr. McClain, a Black man, died after police restrained him and paramedics injected him with ketamine.

The Colorado Court of Appeals has mandated new trials for the paramedics, Peter Cichuniec and Jeremy Cooper. The court identified errors in the jury instructions regarding the charges against them. In 2023, a jury convicted Mr. Cichuniec of criminally negligent homicide and second-degree assault, while Mr. Cooper was found guilty of criminally negligent homicide but acquitted of second-degree assault.

The appeals court upheld Mr. Cichuniec’s second-degree assault conviction. Mr. McClain, who was 23 and worked as a massage therapist, encountered police on his way home from a convenience store in Aurora, Colorado, in 2019. Police were responding to a report about a suspicious person.

Officers used a chokehold on Mr. McClain, a method now prohibited in Aurora and other areas. Paramedics Mr. Cichuniec and Mr. Cooper administered a “therapeutic” dose of ketamine to Mr. McClain, which led to cardiac arrest as he was transported to the hospital. He died several days later.

Mr. Cichuniec originally received a five-year prison sentence, but a judge reduced it to four years of probation due to “‘unusual and extenuating circumstances.” Mr. Cooper did not receive a prison sentence.

The lawyers for Mr. Cichuniec and Mr. Cooper have not commented on the appeals court’s decision. The case stands out as a rare prosecution of emergency medical personnel. In response to Mr. McClain’s death, multiple states, including Colorado, have implemented bans or restrictions on paramedic-administered ketamine.

Mark Walker is a reporter for the Times, focusing on breaking news and culture.