Jurors on Thursday found a former Clear Creek County sheriff’s deputy guilty of criminally negligent homicide in the 2022 killing of Christian Glass.
Andrew Buen could be sentenced to up to three years in prison on the homicide conviction — much less than the decades behind bars he would have faced had he been convicted of second-degree murder, the charge prosecutors pursued.
Buen was convicted in his second trial after a previous jury could not reach a verdict on the murder charge in April. Buen was found guilty only of reckless endangerment in that first jury trial. This month’s trial was solely on the charge of second-degree murder.
The former deputy sat with his head in his hand after the guilty verdict was read Thursday. The jurors deliberated for about seven hours before delivering their verdict.
“He murdered our son and now he must face the consequences,” said Sally Glass, Christian’s mother.
Buen shot and killed Glass on June 10, 2022, after the 22-year-old called 911 for help when his car got stuck on a rock in Clear Creek County. Glass, who had marijuana and amphetamine in his system, was experiencing a mental health crisis and told dispatchers he was afraid of “skinwalkers” and people chasing him.
Seven law enforcement officers responded to Glass’ 911 call and spent more than an hour trying to coax Glass out of the car while he was experiencing delusions and paranoia. Eventually, Buen decided to break Glass’ window and pull him from the vehicle.
When officers broke the window, Glass grabbed a knife and officers fired a Taser at him and shot him with beanbags in an attempt to force him to drop it. Instead, Glass twisted in the driver’s seat and thrust the knife toward an officer standing next to the shattered window behind him, prompting Buen to shoot Glass five times. Glass then stabbed himself several times.
During closing statements Wednesday, prosecutor Joseph Kirwan noted that Glass offered to throw his knives out of the car before the shooting, and Buen told him not to. He said Glass committed no crime and officers had no reason to force their way into his car that night.
“Why? Why did they have to get into the car?” Kirwan said. “To save him? Well, they didn’t save him in this case. They killed him. He killed him.”
Mallory Revel, an attorney for Buen, said during closing statements that Buen used the right amount of force and fired only because he thought Glass was about to stab another officer.
“Don’t get distracted by all the Monday morning quarterbacking,” she told jurors. “…This case is not could-have, would-have, should-have — it is, in the moment Andrew fired, that split second, was that force justified? … And it was.”
Clear Creek County Sheriff Matthew Harris said in a statement Thursday that the office has changed its policies, leadership, training and supervision to ensure an incident like Glass’ death does not happen again.
“I made a commitment to our community, to county commissioners and, most importantly, to the Glass family to change how the sheriff’s office operates,” he said in the statement.
An attorney for the Glass family, Siddhartha Rathod, said Thursday that the verdict brings some closure.
“No conviction is justice,” he said. “Justice is Christian walking through his front door, hugging his mom and dad and his two sisters. Simon and Sally will never get justice. Today provides a small bit of comfort and closure to the Glass family, and sends a clear message to law enforcement that they are not above the law.”
A 2022 grand jury investigation that was separate from the criminal prosecution found Glass committed no crime, acted in panic and self-defense before he was killed, and never actually came close to stabbing the officers. The involved law enforcement agencies agreed to a $19 million settlement with Glass’ parents in 2023.
Buen was fired after he was indicted.
His supervisor, former Clear Creek County Sheriff’s Sgt. Kyle Gould, was not there during the incident but gave Buen permission to break into Glass’ car. Gould pleaded guilty to failing to intervene in the excessive force of another officer in 2023 and was sentenced to two years of probation.
Buen’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for April 14.
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