Shooting of Botham Jean by Officer Amber Guyger

[ett]

Indicted for murder.

https://www.star-telegram.com/news/l...222202180.html

I say good. But will not feel justice is served until she is behind bars; and for as long as a non-cop would be if they committed the same murder.

What would happen to us if we "mistakenly" entered someone else's place of residence and killed them ?

[Walleye Hunter]

I would like to know what really happened and if it was just an error made in a stupor. Not that it's any less of a crime, just more of a sad situation.

[internet troll]

Update: This trial will be getting underway soon.

https://www.kut.org/post/jury-select...black-neighbor

Jury Selection Set To Begin In Case Of Ex-Dallas Cop Who Killed Black Neighbor
By Wade Goodwyn, NPR & Tanya Ballard Brown • 6 hours ago
Former Dallas police officer Amber Guyger fatally shot an unarmed black neighbor whose apartment she said she entered by mistake, believing it to be her own.
Jury selection is set to begin Friday for the white former Dallas police officer who shot and killed her unarmed black neighbor in his apartment last year. Amber Guyger said she entered the apartment by mistake and thought 26-year-old Botham Shem Jean was a burglar.

Guyger, a four-year police veteran who was fired last year, was originally charged with manslaughter after the Sept. 6, 2018, slaying of Jean, a Dallas accountant and native of St. Lucia. In November, a grand jury handed up an indictment for murder.

Jean, an up-and-coming associate at PriceWaterhouseCoopers in Dallas, was a leader in his local church who hoped to someday return to St. Lucia and enter public service.

According to Guyger, she was coming off a double shift and parked on the fourth floor of her apartment complex, instead of the third floor where her apartment was located. She walked to where her apartment would be if she were on the right floor. There was a bright red doormat Jean placed outside his door to help friends know which apartment was his. Guyger said she went to insert her electronic key, and the door pushed open. She walked in, it was dark, she saw a man inside, and she said she pulled her service revolver and shot Jean in the chest. Guyger then turned on the light, realized she was in the wrong apartment, and called 911.

"I thought I was in my apartment. I shot a guy, thinking it was my apartment," she said on the 911 call. Guyger repeated more than 20 times, "I thought it was my apartment."

Guyger has admitted to the shooting, and the key elements of the case aren't in dispute. The question the jury must decide is, was this an accident or murder? Her defense team may argue that the killing was a mistake by an officer who thought she was in a dangerous situation and thought she was acting in self-defense.

The prosecution, however, may rebut that arguing she was not on duty or responding to a dispatch call, and when she shot Jean, she was a civilian who had broken into his house, and as such, she has no legal standing.

The issue of race also hangs over the case.

"The family has no doubt in their mind that she shot Botham because she saw a black man and she thought, 'criminal,' " says Ben Crump, one of the attorneys for the Jean family.

The fact that Guyger wasn't arrested that night angered the black community in Dallas and Jean's home country of St. Lucia, and they raised questions about whether Guyger was given preferential treatment.


"My family and I have only been asking for a fair hearing for my son," Jean's mother, Allison, said at a press conference days after her son was killed. "My son's life matters. At 26 years old, he had done so much. So if you extrapolate what he could have done had he reached my age, then you would have seen how much I have lost."

His family also accused the police department of treating Jean as though he were a criminal rather than a victim, after reports surfaced that marijuana had been found in his home.

"To have my son smeared in such a way, I think shows that there are persons who are really nasty, who are really dirty and are going to cover up for the devil, Amber Guyger," Allison Jean said.

Guyger's defense team would like to move the trial out of Dallas County to one of the city's whiter and more conservative suburbs, but Judge Tammy Kemp has said she will try to seat a Dallas jury first, then rule on the motion for change of venue.

[JustinR]

Thanks for the update. I was actually thinking about this case a couple days ago going "whatever happened to the gal cop that shot her neighbor?"

[Royinmontco]

Guilty of murder.

[ett]

Guilty of murder.

Sorry; unable to cut-n-paste text of news story at this time. But here is link to Fox News:
https://www.foxnews.com/us/amber-guy...ing-jury-finds

[bogey1]

the white Dallas cop who shot black neighbor Botham Jean when she mistook his apartment for hers, on Tuesday was found guilty of murder.

She faces a maximum of life in prison.

After the judge read the verdict, Jean's sister sobbed while his mother raised her fists in the air and said, "God is good."

Ben Crump, a lawyer for Jean's family said, "Nothing will bring Botham back, but today his family has found some measure of justice. What happened on September 6, 2018, is clear to everyone: This officer saw a black man and shot, without reason and without justification. The jury's thoughtful verdict sets a powerful precedent for future cases, telling law enforcement officers that they cannot hide behind the badge but instead will face justice for their wrongful actions."

Guyger was off duty but in uniform when she shot Jean twice, hitting him in the head and chest on Sept. 6, 2018. She had worked a 13.5-hour shift on the Dallas Police Department's crime response team that day, and mistakenly parked on the fourth floor of the complex's garage.

TRIAL OF AMBER GUYGER, DALLAS EX-COP WHO SHOT, KILLED NEIGHBOR BOTHAM JEAN, MOVES TO JURY

Guyger lived on the third floor and Jean, a 26-year-old accountant from St. Lucia, lived in the apartment above hers.

Prosecutors said Jean was watching television and eating a bowl of ice cream in his living room when Guyger burst inside. Prosecutors said the trajectory of the bullets showed that Jean was either getting up from his couch or cowering when Guyger fired her service weapon.

The shooting has attracted intense national scrutiny not only for the strange circumstances surrounding it but also because it was one in a series of shootings of unarmed black men by white police officers. The incident led to widespread marches, protests and calls for Guyger to be held accountable for Jean's death.

Guyger, a four-year veteran of the Dallas Police Department, initially was charged with manslaughter. Two months later, a grand jury indicted her on a murder charge.

Throughout the trial, Guyger's defense team framed the shooting as a "tragic but innocent" mistake.

Dallas County District Court Judge Tammy Kemp ruled Monday that the jury could consider the controversial "castle doctrine," a law that basically says a person's home is their castle and therefore a person has the right to defend it.

Legal analysts said that the trial's outcome hinged on whether the jury would believe Guyger's account that she made a mistake and that the mistake was reasonable.

During closing arguments, prosecutor Jason Fine with the Dallas County District Attorney's Office slammed Guyger for changing her story on the witness stand. He said the case "has to do with [Guyger] making an unreasonable decision that put her in the [defense seat] and Bo in the ground."

He added: "This case is all about what is reasonable and what is absurd."

"This case is about what is reasonable and what is absurd."
— Jason Fine, prosecutor with the Dallas County District Attorney's Office

Fine also brought up witness credibility and told jurors they had a duty to look past Guyger's time on the police force and judge her like they would any other defendant. He then picked apart her testimony.

On Friday, Guyger testified in her own defense. She openly wept after her attorney Toby Shook questioned her about the moments that led up to the shooting.

"I was scared to death," Guyger said, adding that her "heart rate just skyrocketed."
Former Dallas police officer Amber Guyger takes the standVideo

Guyger, who grew up in a suburb of Dallas, said she "never wanted to take an innocent person's life."

She also reenacted how she reached the apartment door she believed was hers, with her backpack, lunch box and police vest in her left hand and said she heard the sound of someone walking around inside. She testified that when she put the key into the lock she noticed the door was ajar. She then saw the silhouette of a figure and pulled out her gun and yelled, "Let me see your hands! Let me see your hands!"

"I was scared he was going to kill me," she testified.

Throughout the trial, jurors heard from officers who raced to the scene that night and who tried to resuscitate Jean. They also listened to testimony from neighbors and an investigator about how common it was for people to wind up on the wrong floor of the South Side Flats complex where Guyger and Jean lived. They also heard the 911 call Guyger made after she shot Jean where she was heard repeatedly saying, "I didn't mean to."

CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP

Prosecutors said Guyger was distracted by a sexually explicit conversation she was having with her partner on the police force. They said she missed a series of signs she wasn't on the right floor of her apartment, including a different colored doormat and lighted numbers.

[Krichardson]

My initial thought was that this was a case of a relationship gone bad but it turns out that Guyger was already in a relationship with someone else.

[GunLawyer001]

Seems like every mistake made was by the white officer, and the dead black dude did absolutely nothing wrong. Except for leaving his door ajar, but very few people would think that a possible consequence of that would be "a cop comes in and shoots me".

I always lock my doors, whether I'm home or not. Yes, I could shoot an intruder, but I'd prefer to have them pass by, and target my Progressive neighbors who don't believe in having guns. It's a bitch to get blood out of the carpet. Also, they have that "spark of divinity" that Pelosi yammers about.

Seems like a good outcome for the trial. I'd also have accepted criminal negligence, but when you shoot an unarmed person in their own home, murder is also an acceptable verdict.

[JenniferG]

Hope she gets the maximum. Women affirmative action hirees are the worst. She could have done just as well as a civil engineer designing bridges.