Former Colorado deputy sentenced to 3 years in prison for killing man who called for help

Armed with nothing more than notecards held in shaking hands and a box of tissues on the courtroom podium Christian Glass family stood before a Clear Creek County judge and pleaded for the deputy who killed the -year-old to receive the maximum sentence You going to prison isn t going to make you a decent person you going to prison isn t going to bring back our son noted Sally Glass Christian s mother addressing the table where former Clear Creek County sheriff s deputy Andrew Buen sat But you ve done so much damage and you must not be able to get away with it Sally Glass choked on her words throughout her speech to the judge during the Monday morning sentencing hearing fighting back tears At times she stopped speaking absolutely to breathe deeply and compose herself allowing silence to fill the courtroom Buen faced up to three years in prison after he was convicted in February of criminally negligent homicide in the killing of Christian Glass He was also convicted of reckless endangerment a misdemeanor typically punished by no more than days in jail in an initial jury trial that ended with the jury deadlocked on a murder charge During the Monday morning hearing Clear Creek County District Court Judge Catherine Cheroutes granted Buen the maximum feasible sentence three years in the Colorado Department of Corrections for the homicide charge and days in jail for the reckless endangerment charge The sentences will be served concurrently Mr Buen killed Christian Glass and that deserves punishment Cheroutes noted There s no question in my mind that that is appropriate This was about power This wasn t a mistake Cheroutes revealed the sentence needed to address the requirements of the casualties and the group while also serving as an example and promoting respect for the law Still the maximum sentence doesn t feel like enough and pales in comparison to the years Buen stole from his -year-old son Christian s father Simon Glass explained What a waste what a terrible waste Simon Glass reported He commented the family is still struggling to come to terms with his son s death and that talking about his son in the past tense feels altogether alien like someone else is speaking Simon Glass also struggled to complete his testimony before Cheroutes during the sentencing hearing He disclosed all of his once-happy memories of his son had been infused with pain not just from the shooting but from the drawn-out legal process and multiple trials This entire trial has been incredibly arduous for all of us disclosed Katie Glass Christian s sister I am not the same person I was before I have anxiety attacks I have depression I can t live my life like I used to be able to And I just miss him Buen shot and killed Christian Glass on June after the -year-old called for help when his car got stuck on a rock in Clear Creek County near Silver Plume small town along Interstate west of Denver Glass who had marijuana and amphetamine in his system was experiencing a mental robustness problem and stated dispatchers he was afraid of skinwalkers and people chasing him He died terrified in pain and all alone Katie Glass stated That s what hurts me the preponderance Seven law enforcement officers responded to Glass call and spent more than an hour trying to coax Glass out of the car while he was experiencing delusions and paranoia Eventually Buen decided to break Glass window and pull him from the bus When officers broke the window Glass grabbed a knife and officers fired a Taser at him and shot him with beanbags in an attempt to force him to drop it Instead Glass twisted in the driver s seat and thrust the knife toward an officer standing next to the shattered window behind him prompting Buen to shoot Glass five times Glass then stabbed himself several times A separate grand jury study into the circumstance in identified Glass committed no crime acted in panic and self-defense before he was killed and never really came close to stabbing the officers The involved law enforcement agencies agreed to a million settlement with Glass parents in May Buen was fired after he was indicted Christian deserved better you all deserved better Buen commented during the sentencing hearing standing before the court in his orange prison jumpsuit This is something I have to live with He noted there were a million things he could have done better that night and he wishes that he had done differently Simon Glass called out the grief displayed by Buen his attorney and his supporters as performative and revealed the former deputy has continually shown a complete lack of remorse throughout the trial Buen and his attorney insisted the regret was genuine He noted every time he speaks with his family they talk about their favorite memories and time together I can t imagine sharing those moments and having the person that they re about be gone Buen disclosed Buen s sister Jennifer disclosed she s had to deal with the unbearable pain of watching your brother slip away She and her daughter Abigail narrated the judge that Andrew Buen changed after the shooting They declared he was beyond broken and hurt and became distanced Buen s mother and close friends also testified on behalf of the ex-deputy asking the court for mercy Judge Cheroutes mentioned she truly thought the group s statements about Buen that he is a kind gentle and loyal person but she commented that all changed once in uniform and armed She disclosed law enforcement officers need to remember that they are populace servants and their duty is to not violate their oath to serve and protect And that is exactly what happened in this episode she mentioned Andrew Buen s supervisor former Clear Creek County Sheriff s Sgt Kyle Gould was not there during the circumstance but gave Buen permission to break into Glass s car Gould pleaded guilty to failing to intervene in the excessive force of another officer in and was sentenced to two years of probation An additional four law enforcement officers face charges of failing to intervene in the excessive force of another officer their criminal cases are pending