Former Clear Creek deputy charged in Christian Glass’ death gets maximum sentence of 3 years in prison

A former Clear Creek sheriff’s deputy who was convicted at trial of criminally negligent homicide in Christian Glass’ 2022 death was sentenced to the maximum three years in state prison Monday morning.

Andrew Buen was also ordered to serve 120 days in jail on a reckless engagement charge, which will run concurrently with his time served in prison, Fifth Judicial District Court Judge Catherine Cheroutes said inside a Georgetown courtroom.

“The goal, again, is to punish a convicted offender by assuring a sentence that’s commensurate with the gravity of the offense,” Cheroutes said before imposing the sentence. “In my mind, this is about the homicide. That is, and always what this has been about, is that Mr. Buen killed Christian Glass and that deserves punishment. There is no question in my mind that that is appropriate.” 

“It’s really kind of amazing to me how Mr. Buen, who I truly believe is a kind and gentle and loyal person, the ‘shirt-off-your-back kind of guy.’ As soon as you put a uniform on him and give him a gun, it changes everything. I think this is about power,” Cheroutes said.

Buen was also charged with second-degree murder,  which is punishable by up to 48 years in prison, but the jury did not find that the fatal June 2022 shooting rose to the level of the charge. The jury deliberated for about eight hours in February before finding him guilty of criminally negligent homicide. 

Monday’s sentencing marks the end of nearly three years of criminal proceedings for Buen following the shooting, which raised questions over how law enforcement responds to 911 calls involving a person experiencing a mental health crisis.

Details of Glass’ death weren’t revealed until months later when his family’s attorney released body-camera footage showing the 22-year-old 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 handgun. 

“A county official told me that Christian had committed suicide by cop and attacked officers with knives, forcing them to defend themselves. This was a cruel lie. Christian was a gentle, kind and polite boy who never hurt anyone in his life,” Simon Glass, Christian’s father, said in court Monday, asking the judge to give Buen the maximum sentence. 

“Without the bodycam footage, I believe the truth would have remained hidden. We would have gone to our graves believing Christian had inexplicably attacked the police.”

Prosecutors argued Buen was not justified in forcing Glass out of his car and that the decision led directly to Glass’ death. The former deputy’s defense attorneys said Buen felt he and other officers were in imminent danger, noting Glass’ knife inside his car, and that Buen acted in self-defense. 

Sally Glass told the judge her son’s death and ensuing criminal trials have forever changed her family and has brought panic attacks and depression. 

“I’ll never be happy ever again, not as long as I live, because a part of me is gone. There’s a hole in my heart that will never be healed. And I just know, I’m spiritual, I’ll know I’ll see him again one day, and I talk to him in the clouds. But we’ll never be truly happy again, as a family, because we lost someone dear to us,” she said. 

She also asked the judge to order the maximum sentence to punish Buen for the damage he has done to the public’s opinion of the police.

“You going to prison isn’t going to bring back our son, but it’s so important for society, for the faith, the damage you’ve done to the police force, the public’s view of the police force, to the good cops out there that do good stuff,” Sally Glass said. “You’ve done so much damage, and you must not get away with it.”

Buen, in an orange jumpsuit, held a tissue to his eyes as he addressed the court. He said he was willing to accept “any punishment that is best” and said he hoped light could come from “such a dark and tragic situation.” 

“From the bottom of my heart, I am so sorry and I apologize for your loss and my actions that led to your loss. I pray for Christian, his mom and dad, and family and friends every night. … There’s nothing I can do or say that can change the past. There’s a million things I should have done better that night.”

Carrie Slinkard, Buen’s attorney, said she has seen her client show remorse since she began representing him.

“Probably the most important thing I want you to know, your Honor, is that the tears that you see today are not new. It broke my heart when I heard the Glass family say that the remorse that is coming from Mr. Buen is in part caused by me … or the defense team has coached him into being remorseful for purposes of sentencing today,” Slinkard said.

Buen’s guilty verdict came after a different jury last April found Buen guilty of reckless endangerment after he shot and killed Glass, who called for help when his car became stranded on a mountain road. But the jury could not reach a unanimous decision on the murder count or an official misconduct charge. 

Glass’ death resulted in a $19 million settlement for his family — the largest police settlement in Colorado history. 

Officers from five jurisdictions who responded to the call were also charged. Six officers on scene were charged with failure to intervene. Sgt. Kyle Gould, Buen’s supervisor who watched the incident remotely, was sentenced to two years of unsupervised probation after pleading guilty to the charge. Gould is also barred from working in law enforcement or security.

Former Georgetown Marshal Randy Williams and officer Tim Collins, who was then a Clear Creek County deputy, resigned from Georgetown Police Department after being charged. Collins and Williams are awaiting trial. 

Last year, a judge dropped charges against Colorado Division of Gaming officials Mary Harris and Christa Lloyd who were called to the scene.

Brittany Morrow, who now works for the Idaho Springs Police Department, and Colorado State Patrol Trooper Ryan Bennie were also charged and are awaiting trial. 

This is a developing story that will be updated.