Jury deadlocks in murder case against former deputy in the killing of a Colorado man

A former sheriff’s deputy who shot and killed a 22-year-old man who called 911 for help in June 2022 was found guilty Friday of reckless endangerment, although a Colorado jury said it would reach a verdict on murder and official charges. Unable to reach. Malpractice.

The judge in the case, which investigated how police handle crisis intervention, imposed the sentence on the reckless endangerment charge after three days of deliberations to discuss the jury’s inability to reach a verdict on the other two counts. Hearing scheduled for Monday afternoon.

Andrew Byn, a former deputy, was charged with second-degree murder, official misconduct and reckless endangerment in the November 2022 fatal shooting of Christian Glass, who sought help after his SUV got stuck on an embankment on a mountain road. Police were called for. Silver Plume, Colo., about 45 miles west of Denver.

Prosecutors and a lawyer for Mr. Byun did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Friday.

“This is a small step towards justice,” Siddharth Rathod, an attorney for the Glass family, said in a brief interview Friday.

After Mr. Glass called 911 for help on June 10, 2022, about a half-dozen officers, including Mr. Byun, arrived and spent more than an hour convincing him to get out of his SUV.

Mr. Glass had a knife in his hand, and body camera footage showed that officers asked him to drop it. When he did not comply with his orders, Mr. Byun broke the front passenger side window with a baton, according to the indictment. Officers then used a stun gun on Mr Glass and fired beanbag rounds at him, documents show.

At some point during the night, Mr. Glass swung the knife in multiple directions “in a state of complete panic and self-defense,” the indictment says. Then Mr. Byun fired at him five times from his service pistol. Mr. Glass was later pronounced dead at the scene, according to the indictment.

Mr Glass’s mother, Sally Glass, said her son was struggling with “mental health issues” the night he was killed.

Before the jury began deliberations on Wednesday, Clear Creek County District Attorney Heidi McCallum said in court that officers were concerned that Mr. Glass would get out of his SUV and use a knife, but they also wanted him to Exit. Vehicle.

“How could Christian win that night?” Ms McCallum said. “Maybe the better question is: How could Christians survive that night?”

Mr Byun’s lawyer, Cary Slinkard, said in court that Mr Glass threatened the officers with a knife in his hand.

“Nobody wanted Christian to die that night,” Ms. Slinkard said. “The action was taken in response to behavior that endangered the life of another person.”

Mr. Byun was initially placed on administrative leave after the shooting, and returned to work for the Clear Creek County Sheriff’s Office in September 2022. He was fired in November 2022 after the allegations against him became public.

Another sheriff’s deputy with the sheriff’s office, Kyle Gould, was charged with criminally negligent homicide and reckless endangerment in connection with the shooting in November 2022.

Mr. Gold did not respond to Mr. Glass’s calls for help that night, but it was determined that Mr. Gold played a role in the shooting because he was the supervisor of one of the deputies who responded to the 911 call, his attorney said. Said in 2023.

As part of a plea agreement, Mr. Gold pleaded guilty in November 2023 to failure to intervene, and was sentenced to two years of probation. As part of the plea agreement, Mr. Gold is barred from working in law enforcement, according to the District Attorney’s Office of the Fifth Judicial District.

Six other officers who responded to the 911 call were charged in November 2023 with one count each of failure to intervene, a misdemeanor, according to the district attorney’s office. The officers charged were Georgetown Town Marshal Randy Williams; Officer Timothy Collins of the Georgetown Police Department; Officer Brittany Morrow of the Idaho Springs Police Department; Colorado State Patrol Trooper Ryan Benny; and Colorado Gaming Division officials Krista Lloyd and Mary J. Harris. Marshall Williams was also charged with third-degree assault.

The cases against those six officers will remain open.

Mr. Glass’s parents received a $19 million settlement, which was announced in May 2023. Under the terms of the agreement, Mr. Glass’s parents were to receive funds from state and local agencies, and changes were to be made in officials’ practices. According to family lawyers, train for similar situations.