DENVER (AP) — A former Colorado sheriff’s deputy convicted within the capturing demise of a 22-year-old man in misery who referred to as 911 for assist is about to be sentenced Monday.
In February, jurors discovered Andrew Buen responsible of criminally negligent murder within the 2022 demise of Christian Glass, which drew nationwide consideration and led to modifications in how officers are educated to reply to folks in psychological well being crises. Glass’s mother and father had been awarded a $19 million settlement.
Criminally negligent murder sometimes carries a sentence starting from probation as much as three years in jail.
Buen, a former deputy in Clear Creek County, was convicted after a second trial. Almost a yr in the past, one other jury convicted him of misdemeanor reckless endangerment for placing different officers in peril by opening fireplace. Nonetheless, jurors couldn’t attain settlement on a homicide cost or a cost of official misconduct.
With the help of Glass’ household, prosecutors determined to strive Buen once more for second-degree homicide. Jurors additionally had the choice of convicting him of the much less severe cost of criminally negligent murder.
Prosecutors alleged Buen needlessly escalated a standoff with Glass, who confirmed indicators of a psychological well being disaster and refused orders to get out of his SUV close to Silver Plume, a small, former mining city alongside Interstate 70 within the Rocky Mountains west of Denver.
The protection argued Buen was legally justified in capturing Glass, who had a knife, to guard a fellow officer.
Convictions of regulation enforcement officers on extra severe expenses are uncommon as a result of consultants say jurors have a tendency to provide them the advantage of the doubt for the way they act in emergencies, consultants say.
A police officer and two paramedics convicted within the demise of Elijah McClain in Colorado, a Black man whose title grew to become a part of the rallying cries for social justice that swept the U.S. in 2020, additionally had been discovered responsible of criminally negligent murder in 2023.
One of many paramedics moreover was convicted of second-degree assault, which has an extended jail sentence. A decide later freed him from prison and sentenced him to probation as a substitute.
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