Coloradans have known one heartbreaking truth for four long years: Without the aggressive and callous actions of three Aurora police officers and two paramedics, Elijah McClain would be alive today.

And now, after the first prosecutor on the case refused to take the homicide to trial, Coloradans know another truth: There was not enough evidence to convince a jury that two of those officers’ actions were criminal. Only Aurora police officer Randy Roedema was convicted, and even then, jurors found him guilty of the lesser charges he faced — criminally negligent homicide and third-degree assault.

As we await the trial of the two paramedics who injected McClain as he lay restrained on the ground with an overdose of ketamine, Coloradans may begin to wonder if the initial prosecutor, District Attorney Dave Young, was correct in his decision not to press charges.

Was this outcome really worth the time, effort, and expense put forth by Colorado’s Attorney General Phil Weiser who empaneled a grand jury to consider the evidence and issue the indictments?

We respond with a resolute yes.

America’s justice system demands that when prosecutors have clear and convincing evidence — in this case video and audio of the assault on Elijah McClain — charges be brought. Whether those charges end in a plea deal, trial, conviction or exoneration depends on how jurors view the evidence when taken as a whole. The legal standard for a conviction is rightly extremely high: “proof that leaves you firmly convinced of the defendant’s guilt.” The complicating fact in McClain’s death is that reasonable people could assign blame to any of the five people charged to varying degrees based on the evidence.

Jurors on Monday essentially determined that the neck hold employed by Nathan Woodyard, 34, was not responsible for McClain’s death, although there could be other reasons they doubted Woodyard’s guilt. Woodyard was the first officer to contact McClain after someone complained to the police that the young black man was acting suspiciously. But Woodyard walked away after McClain was restrained and other officers took over.

Last month jurors also acquitted Jason Rosenblatt, 34, for the role he played in McClain’s death, finding the officer not guilty. But that same jury found that Roedema, 41, had contributed to McClain’s death.

No one has been accused of intentionally killing McClain — murder charges were likely never on the table — but even in terrible accidents, our justice system demands we hold people accountable for reckless behavior. These are some of the most difficult cases to prosecute.

Rosenblatt’s attorney took a different spin on justice. “I’m saddened, quite honestly, that Mr. Roedema was convicted. But ultimately, I always felt that my client should never have been charged. The government spent literally millions of taxpayer money to go after my client, and I think they did that inappropriately. And I’m glad the jury saw through it,” said attorney Harvey Steinberg.

Steinberg, as a criminal defense attorney, should know taking a difficult case to trial is not only appropriate, it is what the legal profession demands of prosecutors who ethically and fairly build a case around the evidence.

Roedema and Rosenblatt were indicted by a grand jury — normal people seated by Colorado’s attorney general to consider new evidence in the case that centered around the question of what caused McClain’s death.

Weiser rectified a grave injustice by bringing the people responsible for McClain’s death before a jury to assess the evidence and determine if their actions were criminal. Two paramedics will go on trial next month.

Two acquittals and a conviction of lesser charges were not the outcomes Elijah’s mother and the community supporting her had hoped for, but after four long years, it was justice.

The trials aired all the evidence, exposed the tragedy in a legal setting with strict parameters for guilt and innocence, and let a jury weigh the decision.