CLEAR CREEK COUNTY, Colo —
Christian Glass's family fled the courtroom when his autopsy photos, showing a body riddled with bullet holes and covered in other injuries, were shown to the jury in the murder trial of a former Clear Creek County deputy Tuesday.
Dr. Meredith Frank, the forensic pathologist who conducted the autopsy, testified that all five bullets she found in Glass’s body were lethal – there was not one bullet that killed Glass.
“They all acted together. I can't say that any one of them was worse than the other,” Frank said. “I could not even say that one was not lethal.”
Frank testified that the manner of death was a homicide, meaning that he died at the hands of another person.
Those were not the only injuries she identified. Frank also noted blunt force trauma to Glass’s head, various abrasions, and sharp injuries on his neck and torso "consistent with a knife."
Frank testified that she had watched portions of the body camera video of Glass’s death that were shown to the jury early this week, and she said the knife wounds were consistent with self-inflicted injuries. She also testified that none of those knife wounds would have killed Glass.
Other injuries were consistent with the use of a Taser, Frank said.
In testimony, a Colorado Bureau of Investigations agent said that Andrew Buen, the former deputy charged with shooting and killing Glass, put other officers in danger that night.
CBI Agent Derek Graham testified Buen put other officers in a “dangerous situation” when he fired his gun at Glass with other officers standing on the opposite side of the car.
“If for some reason Deputy Buen is not a good shot and misses, he could easily hit Officer Williams. Or if there's a ricochet, Officer Williams could be in jeopardy,” Graham said.
Former Georgetown Police Marshal Randy Williams was one of several officers on scene with Buen the night prosecutors say Glass called 911 for help after he got his car stuck on a boulder in Silver Plume.
They say he appeared to be experiencing a mental health crisis when several officers engaged with him for more than an hour.
911 operator Paige Kincade, who took Glass’s call, described him as “paranoid." She was the first witness to testify on Friday.
Body camera footage then shows Buen broke the car's window, shot Glass with bean bag rounds and used a Taser on him before shooting him five times in the chest. He is charged with second-degree murder, official misconduct and reckless endangerment.
The shotgun, handgun and Taser cartridge used by Buen that night were shown to the jury Tuesday by CBI Crime Scene Analyst Erick Bryant.
Bryant also demonstrated how to view a 3D rendering of the crime scene he’d created using technology called a FARO scanner during his testimony.
The final witness to take the stand Tuesday afternoon was CBI Agent Clint Thomason, who took photos of the autopsy as well as evidence in Glass’s car. His testimony will continue Wednesday.
The trial opened Friday afternoon, where opening statements from both sides presented notably different theories of what happened the night of Glass’s death: one of a young man experiencing a mental health crisis, the other of one under the influence of drugs in a car full of weapons.
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 with Glass via a live-streamed body-worn camera. He then gave the order for Glass' driver's side window to be broken out.
Gould is listed as a potential witness for the defense.
The 5th Judicial District Attorney's Office offered plea deals to both former Clear Creek County 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.
Later that November, the DA’s office charged all six other officers on scene the night of Glass’s death for failing to intervene.
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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