A jury found former Clear Creek County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Andrew Buen guilty of criminally negligent homicide — but not of second-degree murder — in the fatal shooting of 22-year-old Christian Glass on June 11, 2022 outside of Silver Plume.

The charge is a lesser included offense in the second-degree murder charge.  

Buen stood at the podium with his defense attorneys. When the verdict was read, he dropped his head down.

The retrial in the Fifth Judicial District, which began on Feb. 7, was the second time that Buen faced a Clear Creek County jury for the incident. The first trial in April 2024 ended in a deadlock on the charges of second-degree murder and official misconduct.

The second trial’s jury took less than a day to reach the verdict. It started deliberating about 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday after closing arguments.

The first jury heard the case in 2024, finding him guilty for a reckless endangerment charge, a misdemeanor. It took two-and-a-half days for the jury to reach that decision.

In the current case, Buen faces up to three years in prison, $100,000 fine, and a mandatory two years probation for the criminally negligent homicide conviction.

“This has been a really, really long and tough thing for us. And it’s not over, but this is what we’ve been waiting for,” Christian’s father, Simon Glass, said outside the courthouse Thursday.

“We knew in our hearts that whatever happened, it doesn’t bring our son back,” Sally Glass added. “And that’s the thing, it doesn’t bring our son back. But when I saw him handcuffed, it was like, Simon, finally, after two and a half years, he has finally got real hard consequences for murdering someone.”

“Murder was never the appropriate charge in this case and we are grateful to all of the jurors for recognizing that,” Carrie Slinkard, one of Buen’s defense attorneys, told The Denver Gazette. “This case will have far-reaching implications for law enforcement throughout Colorado, but we respect the judicial system and are glad we had such attentive and focused jurors there to listen to Andrew’s story.” 

The testimony during trial showed Glass was having a mental health episode after getting his car stuck between two rocks in the mountains.

Glass had turned off of I-70 eastbound to avoid cars on the highway and got stuck between two rocks. Glass then called 911 for assistance and told the dispatcher that he thought people were following him, including “skin-walkers,” who might be after him.

During the call, Glass told the dispatcher that he had multiple weapons, including knives and a mallet, but he didn’t plan to use them. He told the dispatcher he would throw them out of the window as soon as officers arrived.

Buen was one of the two officers to arrive at the scene first. Overall, seven officers from different departments eventually responded.

Buen is the only one of eight officers involved, including one over radio, to face trial. Six others from five different jurisdictions were charged with failure to stop the situation, with two of the cases being dropped at the end of 2024.

Officers attempted to get Glass out of the car and to roll his windows down for more than an hour. Prosecutors argued that the effort to get him to leave the vehicle started within 17 seconds of arrival.

After negotiations and Glass’ degrading mental health, Buen broke a side window, fired six bean bag rounds and tased Glass. Glass then began stabbing himself with a knife.

The defense said he also thrust a knife at an officer, former Georgetown Marshall Randy Williams, out of the back window.

Buen shot Glass five times.

“This was a case of shoot first and ask questions later,” Chief Deputy District Attorney Joe Kirwan said during the closing arguments.

The defense claimed that all seven officers at the scene considered Glass a threat, with several asking whether or not Williams had been hurt during the incident.

“In order to convict Andrew, you’d have to ignore every one of their perspectives — the people who were actually there,” Mallory Revel, one of Buen’s defense attorneys, said Wednesday.

Prosecutor Steve Potts said officers should have addressed the situation with “common sense,” despite their procedures. They should have stepped back and allowed the situation to unfold, with Glass not committing any direct crimes, Potts said. He said the situation was a textbook example of an “officer created jeopardy.”

“He wasn’t going to die in that car,” Potts said. “He wasn’t going anywhere. His car was stuck. But then, you break the window, shoot him with the beanbags and tase him.”

After the verdict was read, Buen sat in the courtroom with his head in his hand. He hugged multiple family members after the hearing was over. 

Glass’ family left the room. 

Buen refused a plea agreement offered in 2023. In May 2023, Glass’ parents, Simon and Sally Glass, got a $19 million settlement from Clear Creek County, which is believed to be the largest such settlement in Colorado. 

“Police really have to be held to the same standards, and quite frankly, higher standards, than the rest of us,” Sally Glass said after the verdict.

“He thought he was God. He thought he could do anything. He thought he could get away with everything he did,” Simon Glass added.

“The jury sent a clear message to law enforcement that they are not above the law,” Siddhartha Rathod, the Glass family’s civil defense attorney, told The Denver Gazette on Thursday. “No conviction is justice for the Glass family. Justice for the Glass family is Christian hugging his sister and his parents, but this does provide a bit of closure.”

In a statement, the Clear Creek County Sheriff’s Office said it respects the jury’s decision and that it is continuing efforts to ensure the incident “will never happen again.”

“We are working to rebuild trust and build community relationships by being accountable, transparent, and professional. We have restructured the leadership team, implemented policies and processes to align with law enforcement best practices, and established agency-wide training requirements and expectations,” Sheriff Matthew Harris said. “We also created and filled two additional patrol sergeant positions to help attain our goal of 24/7 direct supervision.”

Since Glass’ death, the Georgetown Police Department had dissolved. A crisis response team was established in the county.

In closing, Sally Glass said she hopes what happened to her son will never happen again.

“That’s all we desperately hope for,” Sally said, “that no family ever has to go through this, right?”

The other cases connected with the incident are still going through the court system.

Buen will be held in jail in Clear Creek County until his sentencing scheduled for April 14. 

The Denver Gazette reporter Carol McKinley and The Denver Gazette’s news partner, 9News, contributed to this report.