Retrial for ex-deputy accused of shooting and killing Christian Glass in his parked car begins

For the second time in less than a year, a former Clear Creek County Sheriff’s deputy who shot a 22-year-old man who was sitting in a locked car after getting stuck on a rocky rural road faces charges of second-degree murder. 

Andrew Buen was convicted of reckless endangerment last April in the death of Christian Glass, who had called 911 for assistance with his car. But the jury couldn’t reach a verdict on the murder charge or official misconduct so a judge declared a mistrial.

So a new set of jurors will hear testimony about what happened on the summer night near Silver Plume in June 2022 that ended with Glass dead in his car.

In the first trial, prosecutors argued that Glass, a 22-year-old from Boulder, was “tortured” by law enforcement. They said Glass was scared and confused when he called 911 because his car was stuck.

Glass told dispatchers and police on the scene that he had a knife in the car. He refused to get out of the car but complied with orders to keep his hands off the knife. Buen pulled his gun on Glass anyway.

Other officers arrived on the scene to assist, and the 70-minute confrontation was caught on multiple body cameras. Prosecutors have said that no one on the scene was in danger, time was on their side and Buen had no reason to deploy a bean bag and stun gun on Glass, before shooting him five times.

Buen’s attorney during the trial countered that Glass was driving under the influence, and Buen had to respond with force because Glass was attempting to attack another officer on the scene with the knife in his car. 

Jury selection is set to begin Monday, Feb. 3. According to Fifth Judicial District Attorney Heidi McCollum, she anticipates the selection will take about three or more days — the same amount of time required in the first trial.

It is unclear how different the new trial will be from the first one. McCollum could not confirm whether anyone from the Glass family would testify. Glass' mother Sally testified during the first trial and sat with her husband in the courtroom for the duration. The family is expected to be present at this trial.

The foreperson from the last trial confirmed that most of the jurors agreed to convict Buen on the charge of second-degree murder. But, there was one “holdout” juror, who was described as unreasonable. 

“Very quickly that holdout juror said, ‘I'm never going to convict on murder and we should just hang this jury right now,’” said Kristi Englekirk, who is an attorney based in Evergreen. “And, ultimately, that's where we ended up because they never came around. But that was kind of frustrating to hear when we hadn't even really gone through anything yet for them to just be like, ‘No, I'm never going to come around.’”

If Buen is convicted of second-degree murder, he faces a sentence of between eight and 24  years in prison. The conviction would cost him his certification to be a law enforcement officer.  According to the court documents, the official misconduct charge was dismissed on Jan 2. As of last week, the Colorado Peace Officer Standards & Training database still lists Buen as a certified officer.

The sergeant in charge of the scene, Kyle Gould pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of failure to intervene in November 2023. He was sentenced to two years of probation with no jail sentence. He also agreed to withdraw his law enforcement certification and not work in law enforcement in any jurisdiction.

The family of Christian Glass, who are from the United Kingdom and New Zealand received $19 million — the largest known law enforcement settlement in state history — for their son’s death.

Along with the money, a portion of which will go to the attorneys, agencies have pledged a number of police reform and mental health training initiatives.