CLEAR CREEK COUNTY, Colo. — A former Clear Creek County Sheriff's Office deputy will go to trial again in August after a jury could not decide whether he should be convicted of murder for shooting and killing Christian Glass.
Former Deputy Andrew Buen was charged with second-degree murder, official misconduct, and reckless endangerment. A jury could only unanimously agree to the last, and least serious, charge. They deadlocked on the other two.
On Monday, a judge in Georgetown scheduled Buen's retrial to begin Aug. 12.
This process will require finding an entirely new jury. Earlier this month, jury selection for the first trial took nearly five days.
On Sunday, the jury foreman for this case told 9NEWS she believes a holdout juror did not disclose a bias about policing.
That juror, Kristi Englekirk, was back in the courtroom on Monday.
"People aren't going to flat out admit to biases, so I think if there are questions on the questionnaire that get to the heart of the problem, that might be more helpful in getting the right jury this time," she told 9NEWS.
Judge Catherine Cheroutes made a point to bring up revising jury questionnaires and instructions for the next go-round.
"I think we would really want to talk about our jury questionnaire again and see if there are any possible revisions to that," Cheroutes said to counsel on both sides in court Monday. "Certainly, we had a lot of questions on there that turned out to not be really helpful questions, and I think we can firm it up a little bit."
9NEWS legal analyst Scott Robinson said that in cases like this where it could be difficult to find a jury, it wouldn't be unusual to request a change of venue. While it's typically defense attorneys who request the change, Robinson said it seems that prosecutors in Colorado could do so as well.
In a statement, Clear Creek County Sheriff Matthew Harris reaffirmed the department's commitment to change, and to making sure what happened to Glass nearly two years ago doesn't happen again.
"Our community deserves a Sheriff’s Office that reflects our values in this County. The Clear Creek County Sheriff’s Office is not perfect. What happened in June 2022 does not define what we are as an organization and who we are as people," Harris said in the statement. "I’ve also made a commitment to the public, our commissioners, and most importantly, to the Glass family to change our operations here. I remain steadfast in fostering a culture of accountability, transparency, and professionalism to earn the public’s trust. Anything less is unacceptable."
Harris took over the sheriff's office in December 2023 after the abrupt retirement of former Sheriff Rick Albers, who was in office when Glass was killed. The Glass family and Clear Creek County commissioners have previously criticized Albers' handling of the case, saying he did not take adequate responsibility. In an apology, Albers said his deputies "failed to meet expectations" during the call.
Case history
Prosecutors said Glass was experiencing a mental health crisis when he called 911 for help after he got his car stuck on a boulder in Silver Plume in June 2022. Several officers engaged with him for more than an hour. After officers unsuccessfully tried to get Glass out of his car, Buen broke Glass' car window, shot him with bean bag rounds and used a Taser on him before shooting him five times in the chest.
For the Glass family, their legal ordeal is not over. The DA’s office charged all six other officers on scene the night of Glass’s death for failing to intervene last November. Those cases have yet to be tried.
In November 2022, a Clear Creek grand jury indicted Buen alongside his supervisor, former Clear Creek deputy Kyle Gould, who wasn’t at the scene that night. According to court documents, Gould was watching the encounter with Glass via a live-streamed body-worn camera. He then gave the order for Glass' driver's side window to be broken out.
The 5th Judicial District Attorney's Office offered plea deals to both former Clear Creek deputies in September 2023.
Gould pleaded guilty that November to "duty to report use of force by peace officers - duty to intervene."
He was sentenced to two years unsupervised probation and ordered to pay a $1,000 fine. As part of the plea agreement, Gould withdrew his POST certification and cannot work as a police officer or security guard in Colorado ever again.
In May 2023, the Glass family was awarded $19 million in a settlement agreement with Clear Creek County, the Colorado State Patrol, the Georgetown Police Department and the Idaho Springs Police Department – all departments with officers on scene that night. Among the many non-economic terms of the settlement, Clear Creek County has implemented a crisis response team to respond to calls. It is the largest police misconduct settlement in Colorado history.
View a full timeline of events in this case here:
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