CLEAR CREEK COUNTY, Colo. —
Jury selection began Monday for a former Clear Creek County Sheriff's Office deputy charged in the death of 22-year-old Christian Glass.
Andrew Buen, the deputy who shot and killed Glass, is charged with second-degree murder, official misconduct and reckless endangerment.
Buen pleaded not guilty in November. Glass' parents have said Buen is prolonging their grief by not accepting a plea deal months ago.
Glass called 911 for help after he got his car stuck on a boulder in Silver Plume in June 2022. He appeared to be experiencing a mental health crisis when several officers engaged with him for more than an hour. Buen then broke Glass' car window, shot him with bean bag rounds and used a Taser on him before shooting him five times in the chest.
9NEWS' partners at the Denver Gazette report 1,500 people were summoned to potentially sit on this jury. That means one in six eligible Clear Creek residents received a summons in the mail, according to the Denver Gazette.
"1,500 is a lot of summonses, but they are going to have a lot of no-shows, people moving in and out," 9NEWS legal expert Scott Robinson said. "In high-profile cases where there are a lot of potential jurors coming in, it is often staggered so they come in on different days in a given week."
Jury selection could take several days. Answering questions from the attorneys could take time.
"Typically a judge will take them and the lawyers back to chambers, because you don't want one potential juror to taint the rest of the folks in the courtroom," Robinson said.
In November 2022, a Clear Creek grand jury indicted Buen, alongside his supervisor, former Clear Creek County Deputy Kyle Gould, who wasn’t at the scene that night. According to court documents, Gould was watching the encounter 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 County deputies in September. Gould pleaded guilty in 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.
Later in November, the DA’s office charged all six other officers who were on scene on the night of Glass’ death for failing to intervene.
In May, 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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