DENVER — A former Colorado sheriff’s deputy convicted of killing a 22-year-old man in distress who called 911 for help was sentenced Monday to three years in prison, the maximum sentence, by a judge who said the shooting was about power.
Andrew Buen was convicted in February of criminally negligent homicide in the 2022 death of Christian Glass, which drew national attention and prompted calls to reform how authorities respond to people with mental health problems.
Prosecutors alleged that Buen needlessly escalated a standoff with Glass, who showed signs of a mental health crisis and refused orders to get out of his SUV near Silver Plume, a small, former mining town along Interstate 70 in the Rocky Mountains west of Denver.
His parents and the agencies involved reached a $19 million settlement that included crisis intervention training for officers responding to people in distress.
Judge Catherine Cheroutes said Buen’s sentence needed to address both the loss of Glass and the damage done to the community by the shooting.
“I think this was about power. It wasn’t a mistake. It was about, ‘you need to listen to me because I’m in charge,’” she said. She said she believed Buen’s family and supporters that he was a “shirt-off-your-back kind of guy” but said he acted differently when he put on a uniform and had a gun.
Buen, wearing an orange jail uniform, apologized to the Glass family, dabbing his eyes with a tissue with his handcuffed hands as he spoke at a podium.
Glass’s family had questioned whether any remorse Buen might show would be sincere. Buen, his voice shaking, said they had every right to feel the way they do. He said his actions had escalated the standoff and told the judge he wasn’t “owed” anything.
“There are a million things I should have done better that night,” he said before he was sentenced.
Sally Glass told Cheroutes that Buen had acted like a “bully” toward her son, a creative and gentle artist who was born in his father’s native New Zealand.
“He met evil that night and there was no compassion,” she said.
Simon Glass said his family’s grief was compounded at first by authorities initially describing his son as the aggressor in the standoff, which the sheriff’s office later apologized for. He said he struggles with anxiety and has trouble referring to his son in the past tense, but takes comfort that his son’s name has been cleared, in part because of body camera footage.
Katie Glass said she and her mother try to always drive below the speed limit to avoid being pulled over by the police. She said she regrets watching the body camera footage showing her older brother’s final moments.
“He died terrified, in pain and all alone. That is what hurts me the most,” she said.
Buen, a former deputy in Clear Creek County, was convicted after a second trial.
Nearly a year ago, another jury convicted him of a misdemeanor for recklessly putting other officers in danger by opening fire. However, jurors could not agree on a murder charge or a charge of official misconduct.
With the support of Glass’ family, prosecutors decided to try Buen again on a second-degree murder charge. Jurors also had the option of convicting him of the less serious charge of criminally negligent homicide.
The defense argued that Glass had a knife and Buen was legally justified in shooting him to protect a fellow officer.
After his SUV got stuck, Glass told a 911 dispatcher he was being followed. He also made other statements suggesting he was paranoid, hallucinating or delusional and experiencing a mental health crisis, according to Buen’s indictment.
When Buen and other officers arrived, Glass refused to get out. Video recorded by officers’ body cameras showed him making heart shapes with his hands to the officers.
The officers fired bean bag rounds and shocked Glass with a Taser, but that failed to make him exit the car. He then took a knife he had offered to surrender at the beginning of the encounter and flung it out a rear window, which had been broken by a bean bag, toward an officer, according to the indictment. At that point Buen fired five times at him.
“Lord, hear me, Lord, hear me,” Glass was heard saying moments before he was shot.
