Evidence shows Colorado deputy “intentionally and maliciously” killed Christian Glass, judge finds

The criminal cases against two former Clear Creek County sheriff’s deputies charged in the fatal shooting of 22-year-old Christian Glass will move forward after a judge ruled there was enough evidence to support their indictments.

Both Andrew Buen and Kyle Gould argued to Fifth Judicial District Judge Catherine Cheroutes that there was insufficient evidence to support the charges against them.

Buen faces charges of second-degree murder, reckless endangerment and official misconduct for shooting and killing Glass on June 11, 2022. Gould faces charges of criminally negligent homicide and reckless endangerment for his role in remotely supervising the incident with Glass.

Glass called 911 after he crashed his car on an embankment in Silver Plume and told the call-taker he was afraid of “skinwalkers” and people chasing him. He sat in the driver’s seat while officers, for more than an hour, attempted to coax him out of the car before Gould authorized them to forcibly remove Glass.

In the chaos that ensued, Glass grabbed a knife and swung it at one of the officers who was standing outside the rear driver’s-side window, prompting Buen to shoot and kill Glass.

The grand jury that indicted Gould and Buen in November found that Glass acted in self-defense and wouldn’t have posed a threat to anyone had Gould not authorized the breach. There was no probable cause that Glass committed any crime and there was no reason to detain him, the grand jury found.

Cheroutes found that in Buen’s case, there was enough evidence to show the deputy “intentionally and maliciously caused harm to Mr. Glass by shooting and killing him, which exceeded the authority of his official function as a Deputy Sheriff.”

“The malicious intent can be inferred from the aggressive demeanor and the ultimate action of the Defendant shooting Mr. Glass as seen in the bodycam footage,” she wrote in her Friday order denying Buen’s motion to dismiss.

She also upheld the indictment against Gould, despite his attorneys’ arguments that he couldn’t be charged because he was not physically present at the scene until after the killing.

Cheroutes found that there was enough evidence that Gould “consciously disregarded a substantial and unjustifiable risk that Mr. Glass would be injured or killed if he were extracted from his vehicle and that as the supervisor who both authorized the extraction and was monitoring the situation, he engaged in conduct which created the risk of serious bodily injury to Mr. Glass.”

Both Buen and Gould are scheduled to appear in court at 11 a.m. Monday for hearings in their cases.

“The Glass family remains frustrated that none of the other officers involved in Christian’s murder have suffered any consequences,” Siddhartha Rathod, the Glass family’s attorney, said in a statement. “Christian needed intervention and protection from the law enforcement of Georgetown, Idaho Springs and the state of Colorado. Instead, these agencies actively assisted in his murder.”

“The Glass family in the strongest possible manner condemns Clear Creek County’s initial cover-up and lies about their beautiful son’s murder and support the efforts of the District Attorney’s office.”

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