Former Clear Creek deputy's second trial delayed over attorney's child care issues

The scheduled retrial of a former Clear Creek County Sheriff deputy accused in Christian Glass’ death has been pushed back to 2025.

That's because the defendant’s attorney has child care issues.

Andrew Buen’s second trial was supposed to begin Aug. 12, but 5th Judicial District Judge Catherine Cheroutes granted Carrie Slinkard’s motion for a continuance last week after Slinkard explained that her husband has a new job and would be out of town over the 12th.

Prosecutors protested the requested delay in a motions hearing July 8 on behalf of Glass' parents, but Cheroutes granted the request after a closed door hearing with both parties on July 11.

The delay was first reported by the Clear Creek County Courant.

Christian's parents, Simon and Sally Glass, said this latest delay as just the latest in a series of setbacks.

"We are disappointed and frustrated that the trial has been delayed for six months. We have yet to see any justice over the murder of our son. Mr. Buen continues to walk free and enjoy his life while he took the life of a scared innocent young man. So cruel and unfair to delay over a child care issue," they told The Denver Gazette.

The fatal shooting, which gained national attention, occurred June 10-11, 2022, on a remote mountain road near Silver Plume just before midnight.

Glass had turned off of I-70 eastbound to avoid cars on the highway, which he told the 911 dispatcher he thought were following him. He did a U-turn navigating the dark and got stuck in between two rocks.

He called 911 and Buen was one of the two officers who were first on the scene. After an hour trying in vain to get Glass out of his car, Buen broke a side window, body camera footage shows, fired six bean bag rounds, tased and then shot Glass five times — killing him.

Glass' parents received a $19 million settlement from Clear Creek in the case last year — the largest known settlement in Colorado history.

Buen’s first trial ended in April when a Clear Creek County jury found the former sheriff's deputy guilty of reckless endangerment, a misdemeanor.

But after two-and-a-half days of deliberation, the panel could not agree on the most serious charge of second-degree murder, nor on a count of professional misconduct.

Buen, 30, faced charges of second-degree murder, reckless endangerment and professional misconduct in Glass' June 2022 death. He declined to comment as he walked to his car after hearing that he would not be going to prison for murder.

After speaking with jurors, 5th Judicial District Attorney Heidi McCollum made the decision to retry Buen on the second-degree murder charge.

Before she asked to delay the trial, Slinkard had already asked for extra time to file pre-trial motions due to a mountain of new discovery including "hundreds upon hundreds of photographs," Buen's training records, Glass medical records and incident reports, according to a June 26 motion obtained by The Denver Gazette.

Since April 30, Slinkard said, the prosecution sent more than 3,000 items totaling 4,222 pages.

A pre-trial conference has been scheduled for Buen on Nov. 18, 2024.

With the latest delay it is unclear what will happen to six other cases, which could hinge on a verdict in the Buen case.

Those cases involved six officers from various departments charged with failing to step in during the hour-long negotiation with Glass June 11 and 12, 2022.

The charge, referred to as "duty to intervene," is a Class 1 misdemeanor. Former Georgetown Marshall Randy Williams has an extra charge of third-degree assault for allegedly tasing Glass seconds before he was shot.

All six officers, who represent five jurisdictions including Clear Creek County, and the Idaho Springs and Georgetown police departments, have hearings scheduled for September. Calls to several of their attorneys for more information were not returned.