DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Palus Politicus Amber Guyger found guilty of murder at trial in fatal shooting of neighbor Botham Jean

Guyger was off-duty but in uniform when she shot Jean last year in a case that has become a flashpoint in Dallas over issues of police use of force and racial bias.

Former Dallas police Officer Amber Guyger was found guilty of murder Tuesday for fatally shooting her neighbor, Botham Jean, after thinking he was an intruder when she mistakenly entered his apartment.

Guyger, who has been out on a $300,000 bond, faces a maximum of life in prison. She was not immediately taken into custody and the sentencing phase in her trial began Tuesday afternoon with opening statements from Jean's mother.

A gasp could be heard in the packed courtroom when state District Judge Tammy Kemp read the jury's decision. Jean's family later walked out crying and embracing, many wearing red — the victim's favorite color.

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The jury was tasked with deciding whether Guyger, 31, acted reasonably when she used deadly force and if the prosecution had proven beyond a reasonable doubt that she had intentionally killed Jean. A lesser charge of manslaughter, which involves reckless conduct, was also on the table.

The jury will also decide on how to sentence Guyger. Kemp has allowed Guyger's social media posts to be admitted into evidence, including from her Pinterest page. NBC News has not verified earlier reports about her page.

Deliberations began Monday afternoon after a weeklong trial, which included the playing of the 911 call that Guyger made after shooting Jean and bodycam video from officers who responded to the scene.

Guyger was off-duty but in uniform when she twice shot at Jean on Sept. 6, 2018, just before 10 p.m., striking him in the chest. She had worked a 13-1/2-hour shift on the Dallas Police Department's crime response team that day and parked on the fourth floor of the complex's garage.

She lived on the third floor, and Jean, 26, an accountant and native of the island nation of St. Lucia, lived directly above her. The two did not know one another.

The fatal shooting led to one of the most anticipated murder trials in Dallas in decades, and became a flashpoint on the issues of police use of force and racial bias. Guyger is white and Jean was black, and the Jean family has questioned whether Guyger would have shot him if he were a different race.

Lee Merritt, an attorney for the Jean family representing them in a civil case, applauded the verdict as a "huge victory" for them as well as "all black people in America."

"It's a signal that the tide is going to change here," Merritt told reporters outside the court. "Police officers are going to be held accountable for their actions, and we believe this is going to change the policing culture all over the world."

Another family attorney, Benjamin Crump, added that Jean was the "perfect" victim — a young black man who was college-educated and doing nothing but relaxing inside his home after work.

"It shouldn't take all of that for unarmed black and brown people to get justice," Crump said.

Prosecutors said Jean was watching television and eating a bowl of vanilla ice cream in his living room when Guyger burst inside, likely scaring him. Although Guyger said that she used her electronic key fob in the lock, the door pushed open, and she immediately drew her service weapon once inside.

Testifying in her own defense last week, Guyger tearfully told jurors that she was scared for her life when she entered an apartment that she thought was hers. She said she commanded, "Let me see your hands," but the man inside began coming toward her and yelling, "Hey! Hey! Hey!"

The trajectory of the bullet showed that Jean was either getting up from his couch or cowering when Guyger fired at him, the prosecution said.

"I never wanted to take an innocent person's life. I'm so sorry," Guyger said on the stand. "This is not about hate — it's about being scared."

Guyger admitted to giving Jean minimal lifesaving aid because she had only one hand free while she called 911 and her state of mind was frantic.

Guyger, who was on the Dallas police force for more than four years, was fired from her job after the shooting. Toxicology results presented at trial showed she was not intoxicated during the shooting.

The defense brought on other tenants from the same apartment complex who testified that they had parked on a different floor and gone to the wrong unit by mistake.

Guyger's attorneys also downplayed that she had been sharing sexually explicit text messages with her work partner and was on the phone with him just before the shooting, which was revealed in the opening of the trial.

Prosecutors used those messages to make the case that Guyger was not as fatigued that day as the defense had claimed, and that Guyger intended to see her partner later that night.

They also said Guyger was at fault for missing several clues that she was on the wrong floor and went to the wrong apartment, including a red doormat that Jean's apartment had and hers did not.

The jury in Guyger's trial was made up mostly of women and people of color.

The sentencing was set to resume on Wednesday morning.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/amb...botham-n1060506

State reveals racist and violent texts, social media comments during Amber Guyger sentencing phase

https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/specia...25-e3ba14b2f337

She was guilty the moment the news dropped. Literally nothing she said made sense. It’s rare that justice prevails when it comes to unjust shootings, but I’m glad it worked this time.

Although I have to say, I got really angry when I read the other day that the judge told the jury that they should consider the “castle” doctrine, essentially a stand your ground law, in their deliberation.

Cause if would’ve ruled that direction, we’d be seeing some well deserved riots.

Hope she rots in a cell.

It only took the jury six hours to return the verdict. Even the judges comment didn't help her thank God.

Absolutely agree with this verdict... glad it came back this way...

She got 10 years. The victims brother forgave her and said he didn't want to see her go to jail because the victim would not have wanted that. Somehow I can't help but feel that if he had gone into her home and killed her under identical circumstances, he would have got the death penalty.

Slain witness in ex-cop's trial would have testified in civil case against Dallas police
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A key witness in the murder trial of a former Dallas police officer is now dead. Joshua Brown, Botham Jean's neighbor, was shot to death on Friday. His testimony helped prosecutors piece together the events of Jean's murder, and ultimately led to Amber Guyger's conviction.

Dallas police say they are investigating Friday night's shooting and, so far, do not have any suspects or a motive. The attorney for Botham Jean's family is also the attorney for Brown and says he should have been protected after he testified at Guyger's murder trial. The Jean family has filed a civil case against the city of Dallas for the murder of their son Botham. Merritt says Brown would have been one of their first witnesses.

On the witness stand, Brown recalled feeling startled when he heard the gunshots that would ultimately take Botham Jean's life. Now the Jean family and their attorney Lee Merritt are demanding answers.

"To have a key witness, suddenly be killed is suspicious. Was this related to the trial? There is no clear indication," Merritt told CBS News' Omar Villafranca.

Brown took the stand in Guyger's trial and gave emotional testimony about the night Jean was killed last September. Brown said he was in a hallway when he heard the two gunshots.

The shooting that killed Brown happened at a different apartment complex than the one where Guyger and Jean lived. Witnesses described hearing several gunshots Friday night, and seeing a silver four-door sedan speeding away from the parking lot. Merritt says Brown was scared someone was after him, after he was involved in a separate shooting incident in Dallas.

"He had been shot less than a year ago and someone standing near him was killed," Merritt said. "He was reluctant to testify in this case because he had been shot at and he thought some people might want to do harm to him."

Asked if the police could have offered Brown protection, Merritt said, "if he had concerns for his safety, then the city, the county had an obligation to ensure that those concerns were met."

Brown was working in roofing and property management.

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Don't worry, Trump still has foreign governments trying to pin Hillary for something. HDS

still pushing baseless conspiracies?

It's all they have left. They've had HDS for almost a decade now.

j/c:

Amber Guyger trial witness Joshua Brown was shot dead 'during a drug deal' in an attack unrelated to the killer cop, police reveal, as they issue arrest warrants for three men suspected of gunning him down

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...-drug-deal.html

Come on, you didn't chuckle at that?

I did for sure lol

The verdict was right and the sentence was appropriate.

No jabs or anything, serious question: If somebody entered your family members home and killed them in identical circumstances, would you be satisfied with them getting only 10 years?

I applaud the grace and forgiveness shown by his brother, but the sentence should have been 10-25 minimum, let a parole board decide if 10 years was enough once it's served. I don't think I could forgive her if it was my brother.

No jabs taken.

I can say I would....honestly.

It was a bad mistake. I know she said she intended to kill Jean, but that was with the thinking he was a intruder. She went in seeing red, except for the carpet. You get pumped up, you focus on the target, not the surroundings. Copes are trained like you are in the military, lose focus and hesitate, you die. It's that simple.

It's not like she targeted the man 2-3 days prior for one reason or another. I believe her, she walked in thinking a strange person was in her apartment. I don't believe for a minute she decided to walk in to a apartment a floor above her and shoot the first person she saw.

Tragic things happen, and in those cases when warranted, become mitigating circumstance and have to be factored in to the sentence.

Bottom line...no sentence is going to bring the man back, and sticking her is prison for 35 years isn't going to serve society any protective purpose.

I can definitely say if somebody killed one of my children under similar conditions, I would be good .


No BS,,,,being totally honest.

I think that's an easy thing to say if it has never happened to you. How one would actually react in such a situation and how we think we would react in a situation can often times be two different things.

I feel the justice system worked better than it often times does in similar situations to this. To me that's at least progress.

From the very beginning I felt the charge of negligent homicide would have been far more appropriate. But then again I'm not even close to an expert on law.

If Botham had a gun at the ready and shot first and killed Guyer he’d be doing life right now. Just saying.

Maybe you should riot and rob a liquor store OJ.

The Trumpian way of disputing the truth.

Doubt it. She came into his apartment and did not identify herself as a cop... he would have been 100% justified in shooting her... you are just making up hypotheticals that can neither be proven nor disproven.

Texas police officer shoots and kills woman in her home

https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch...an-in-her-home#

Another one. They better have a solid explanation for this one.

I saw that this morning.

There is one. Picture the poor student, agro dude with too much testosterone, that you went to high school with. Now take away his high school athletics outlet, making him realize his best days are likely behind him... now give him a gun, a badge, and authority. That’s your typical cop.

US Court Ruling: You Can Be “Too Smart” to Be a Cop
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.globalr...cop/5420630/amp
Can a person actually be “too smart” to be a cop in America?

A federal court’s decision back in 2000 suggests that, yes, you actually can be.

Robert Jordan, a 49-year-old college graduate, scored a 33 on an intelligence test he took as part of the application process to become a police officer in the town of New London, Connecticut. The score meant Jordan had an IQ of 125.

The average score for police officers was a 21-22, or an IQ of 104. New London would only interview candidates who scored between 20 and 27.

Jordan sued the city alleging discrimination, but the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York upheld that it wasn’t discrimination. “Why?” you might ask. Because New London Police Department applied the same standard to everyone who applied to be a cop there.

And the theory behind it?

“Those who scored too high could get bored with police work and leave soon after undergoing costly training,” ABC News reported back then. While at least acknowledging the basic fact that such a policy might be “unwise,” the court deemed it had a “rational basis” because it was put in place to lower cop turnover.

The police department went on to continue automatically disqualifying anyone whose IQ was “too high.” Jordan went on to become a prison guard instead.

And there you have it.

Considering all the police brutality and officer-involved shootings in the news these days, here’s a rhetorical question for you: how well does this hiring practice bode for cops actually being able to follow the Constitution or use proper discretion while “protecting and serving” America?

Does this snapshot from the past at least partially help explain how we got to where we are as a nation today — a total police state? Wow, and the Pentagon has been giving these guys tanksstraight off the battlefields in the Middle East to drive down American streets, too.

Recent public opinion polls, just by the way, show trust in police is pretty abysmal; 65% feel that our police departments do a poor job of holding officers accountable for misconduct.

Well America’s local law enforcement agencies — of which there are 18,000-plus, more than any other country in the world — aren’t exactly encouraging geniuses to apply to be officers here; in fact, geniuses don’t stand a chance even if they wanted to (which, I guess if they are geniuses, they probably don’t).

From what I've seen, they do not.

Yet they searched her entire home and went through her belongings up and down looking for something to pin on her to justify the shooting. They found a loaded gun under her pillow. Now if she shot this cop first and killed him she’d be on trial for murder right now.

This cop gets to quit and go home to his family.

The officer has been charged with murder.

Yeah now. He quit His job and went home to his family first.

Tables turned the police would have arrested her on the spot and took her away. Forcing her to defend herself in court and public opinion. She’d lose in both, after all it’s the trump era. She was in a no win situation as soon as this cop was dispatched to her home for a wellness check.