A forensic pathologist testified in the murder trial of a former Clear Creek County Sheriff’s Office deputy Tuesday that the victim died from multiple gunshot wounds and that the manner of death was homicide.

Meredith Frank found five bullets in Christian Glass’ torso. Frank, who performed the autopsy on Glass, determined that the manner of death was homicide — which she explained meant that he died at the hands of another person.

Glass’ body was also riddled with injuries.

Frank identified them as abrasions, blunt force trauma to his forehead, sharp injuries on his neck and torso “consistent with a knife, cutting of the skin and soft tissues.” 

Defense attorney Carrie Slinkard pointed out to Frank that Glass appeared to slash his own throat in the police body-worn camera videos and Frank agreed that she had seen that video. Some of Glass’ injuries were consistent with being tased with a stun-gun.

A photo of his left hand showed handwritten numbers “911 4116,” but that was not explained. 

Other testimony revealed that Buen should not have fired his shotgun (“non-lethal” bean bag bullets) and hangun (lethal bullets) during the intense standoff between Glass and six other law enforcement officers the night he was shot and killed near Silverplume, a Colorado Bureau of Investigation investigator testified.

Derek Graham, the lead detective in the nearly two year old investigation, told Andy Buen’s defense attorney Carrie Slinkard that this was a dangerous situation and that “if (Andy) Buen was not a good shot, other officers were in jeopardy.”

Buen and fellow Deputy Tim Collins were the first officers on scene of a situation described as a “motorist assist” just before midnight June 10, 2022. Five other officers from various jurisdictions joined them throughout the 70-minute confrontation that ensued as they tried to entice Christian Glass from his Honda Pilot. The front of the car was high-centered on a rock on a dark mountain road and Glass called 911 for help, in a state of panic. 

Glass was having a mental breakdown, prosecutors said. The 911 dispatch operator described him as “paranoid” and said he wasn’t making sense when he called that night. Paige Kincade was the first witness to take the stand Friday.

Buen, dressed in a dark suit and button down shirt, appeared unemotional as he whispered with the defense’s use-of-force expert, Von Kliem, at a table directly underneath a large wall monitor. The monitor has been busy the last two days as the prosecution used it to have Graham review three angles of police body-worn camera footage of the night Glass was killed.

His mother was in the courtroom, sitting in front of the defendant’s table in support of him. 

Buen often took notes and did not appear to glance toward Christian Glass’ mother, Sally Glass, when she ran out of the courtroom. She appeared to be upset during a discussion about the five shotgun rounds Buen shot through her son’s car front windshield.

Also testifying Tuesday was Colorado Bureau of Investigation Crime Scene Analyst Erick Bryant, who showed the jury the shotgun, handgun and taser cartridge used that night by Buen. 

Tuesday was the third day of testimony in Buen’s murder trial. He faces charges of second-degree murder, reckless endangerment and professional misconduct in the June 11, 2022 shooting death of Glass. He has pleaded not-guilty to all charges.

Slinkard questioned Graham, asking him why he did not collect more evidence from Glass’ “cluttered car including a bong, a pill bottle, a marijuana container, a red jug containing an unknown liquid.”

Upon redirect, Graham told Deputy District Attorney Stephen Potts that he was “investigating an officer-involved shooting, not a DUID or mental health case.” 

Slinkard also criticized Graham for the fact that he did not question Buen about his impression of the body-worn camera video when Buen came in for his initial critical interview. 

Buen is the first deputy to go to trial in connection with the shooting death — a supervisor, Kyle Gould, pleaded guilty last year to a criminal charge of failure to intervene. Gould was not at the scene, instead watching via a livestream. He is the one who gave the order to break the car window.

Gould had already been fired by the sheriff’s office, but he also agreed to give up his officer certification in Colorado. He will no longer be allowed to work at another department.

Mrs. Glass is expected to testify within the next two days. Tuesday, she wore an amethyst bracelet in honor of her son, who had an amethyst rock in his car that night. She said she also carries heart-shaped rocks in her purse which belonged to Christian in his memory.