Jury begins deliberations in ex-deputy’s retrial
A jury began deliberating in Clear Creek County court Wednesday afternoon in the retrial of Andrew Buen, a former deputy charged in the shooting and killing of Christian Glass near Silver Plume in 2022.
Closing arguments began about 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, before the jury received instructions for deliberations at 3:30 p.m. A verdict could be returned any time to determine whether the former sheriff’s deputy is guilty of second-degree murder.
The retrial started Feb. 11, after a jury in April found Buen guilty of reckless endangerment, but could not reach a unanimous decision after several hours of deliberation on the murder count, as well as a charge of official misconduct.
The killing of Glass, who was 22 years old when he died, spurred questions over how law enforcement responds to calls involving mental health emergencies. Details on his fatal shooting did not become public until months later when his family’s attorney released body-camera footage showing Glass making a heart with his hands toward the officers from inside his car before officers broke out the window, shot him six times with beanbag rounds, multiple times with a Taser and then five times with a gun.
Glass called 911 after he drove off a dirt road in the small mountain town off Interstate 70 and needed help to get his car unstuck. Multiple officers from several agencies arrived on scene and asked him to repeatedly get out of the car, telling him, “You don’t need to be terrified. We’re out here to try and help you have a conversation.”
During closing statements Wednesday, Chief Deputy District Attorney Joe Kirwan said Buen failed to protect Glass when he was experiencing a mental health crisis inside his car.
Despite being called to help Glass with his car, Buen and the other responding officers never asked how he got stuck or what they could do to help him, Kirwan said.
During his 911 call, Glass was asked if he had any weapons in his car, and told a dispatch officer that he had a small knife, a mallet and a hammer, offering to throw them out the window when officers arrived. But when Buen arrived on scene, he told Glass to keep them in the car.
“This is a case of shoot first and ask questions later,” Kirwan said.
“Why did this situation occur? Because Christian volunteered to throw out whatever a police officer might be afraid of — the knives — and he wouldn’t let him,” Kirwan said. “This would never have happened if he just did what Christian offered to do.”
Attorneys for Buen argued that the former deputy “tried everything he could” to manage the situation and avoid hurting Glass, including looping in his supervisor after arriving on scene, asking other officers to turn off their sirens and informing them of Glass’ name.
Buen ultimately fired his weapon, his attorneys argued, because he feared Glass was going to stab former Georgetown police Marshal Randy Williams and Buen was responding to the threat.
“This case is not, ‘could have, should have, would have.’ It’s in the moment Andrew fired, in that split second, was that force justified, regardless of the tragedy that inevitably followed,” one of his attorneys, Mallory Revel said.
Buen declined Tuesday to testify in his retrial.
Buen and his supervisor, Kyle Gould, were fired from the Clear Creek County Sheriff’s Office after a grand jury found their decision to remove Glass from his car “directly led” to his death.
Gould, who authorized Glass to be removed from his car and was initially charged with criminally negligent homicide and reckless endangerment, pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors and was sentenced to two years of unsupervised probation in November 2023. He was also barred from working in law enforcement or security.
If found guilty of murder, Buen could face a potential sentence of up to 24 years in prison. If the jury does not find the shooting rose to the level of second-degree murder, it could instead find Buen guilty of a lesser charge of manslaughter or criminally negligent homicide.