Closing arguments are set to take place Tuesday in the trial of the two Aurora, Colorado, police officers who arrested Elijah McClain, an unarmed 23-year-old Black man who died after he was subdued by police and injected with ketamine by paramedics in 2019.
Randy Roedema and Jason Rosenblatt have pleaded not guilty to charges of reckless manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and assault causing serious bodily injury in connection with McClain's death.
Rosenblatt was fired by the police department in 2020 and Roedema remains suspended.
Roedema and Rosenblatt's joint trial began last month and featured testimony from Aurora law enforcement officers who responded to the scene as well as from doctors who analyzed how McClain died. The defense did not call any witnesses.
The case stems from the events of August 24, 2019, when officers responded to a call about a "suspicious person" wearing a ski mask, according to the indictment. The officers confronted McClain, a massage therapist, musician and animal lover who was walking home from a convenience store carrying a plastic bag with iced tea.
In an interaction captured on body camera footage, police wrestled McClain to the ground and placed him in a carotid hold, and paramedics later injected him with the powerful sedative ketamine. He suffered a heart attack on the way to the hospital and was pronounced dead three days later.
Prosecutors initially declined to bring charges, but the case received renewed scrutiny following the nationwide Black Lives Matter protests in spring 2020. Colorado Gov. Jared Polis appointed a special prosecutor to reexamine the case, and in 2021 a grand jury indicted three officers and two paramedics in McClain's death.
How the trial has gone
In opening statements, prosecutors argued the officers used excessive force against McClain in the form of two carotid holds. The officers then failed to check his vital signs, even as he threw up in his ski mask and repeatedly said "I can't breathe," according to the prosecution.
Dr. Robert Mitchell Jr., a forensic pathologist who reviewed McClain's autopsy, testified the cause of death was "complications following acute ketamine administration during violent subdual and restraint by law enforcement, emergency response personnel." He testified there was a "direct causal link" between the officers' actions and McClain's death.
The defense argued the carotid holds were appropriate because McClain was physically resisting. Defense attorneys also argued there was no evidence the officers' actions led to his death, and instead placed the blame on the paramedics' decision to inject McClain with a dose of ketamine too large for his size.
Dr. David Beuther, a pulmonary critical care physician, testified on cross-examination he believed McClain would not have died if the paramedics had recognized his issues and intervened.
A third officer and two paramedics who responded to the scene are set to go on trial in the coming weeks. They have also pleaded not guilty.
In 2021, the city of Aurora settled a civil rights lawsuit with the McClain family for $15 million, and the Aurora police and fire departments agreed to a consent decree to address a pattern of racial bias found by a state investigation.
