DENVER (AP) — A former Colorado sheriff’s deputy convicted of killing a 22-year-old man in distress who called 911 for help was sentenced Monday to three years in prison, the maximum sentence allowed, by a judge who said the shooting was about power.
In February, jurors found Andrew Buen guilty of criminally negligent homicide in the 2022 death of Christian Glass. Prosecutors alleged that Buen needlessly escalated a standoff with Glass, who showed signs of a mental health crisis and refused orders to get out of his SUV near Silver Plume, a small, former mining town along Interstate 70 in the Rocky Mountains west of Denver.
His parents and the agencies involved reached a $19 million settlement that also made changes to how officers are trained to respond to people in mental health crises.
Judge Catherine Cheroutes said Buen’s sentence needed to address both the loss of Glass and the damage done to the community by the shooting.
“I think this was about power. It wasn’t a mistake. It was about, ‘you need to listen to me because I’m in charge,’” she said.
Buen, wearing an orange jail uniform, apologized to the Glass family, dabbing his eyes with a tissue with his handcuffed hands as he spoke at a podium.
Glass’s family had questioned whether any remorse Buen might show would be sincere. Buen, his voice shaking, said they had every right to feel the way they do. He said his actions had escalated the standoff and told the judge he wasn’t “owed” anything.
“There are a million things I should have done better that night,” he said.
Buen, a former deputy in Clear Creek County, was convicted after a second trial.
Nearly a year ago, another jury convicted him of a misdemeanor for recklessly putting other officers in danger by opening fire. However, jurors could not agree on a murder charge or a charge of official misconduct.
With the support of Glass’ family, prosecutors decided to try Buen again on a second-degree murder charge. Jurors also had the option of convicting him of the less serious charge of criminally negligent homicide.
The defense argued that Glass had a knife and Buen was legally justified in shooting him to protect a fellow officer.
Convictions of law enforcement officers on more serious charges are rare because experts say jurors tend to give them the benefit of the doubt for how they act in emergencies, experts say.
A police officer and two paramedics were convicted in 2023 of criminally negligent homicide in Colorado in the death of Elijah McClain, a Black man whose name became part of the rallying cries for social justice that swept the U.S. in 2020.
One of the paramedics additionally was convicted of second-degree assault, which has a longer prison sentence. A judge later freed him from prison and sentenced him to probation instead.
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