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Thread: Former Dallas Police Officer Amber Renee Guyger Sentenced to 10 Years in 2018 TX Slaying of 26-year-old Botham Shem Jean

  1. #11
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
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    Former Dallas Police Officer Amber Guyger Indicted For Murder In Botham Jean Death; DA Says It Was ‘Intentional Event’

    CBSDFW

    Former Dallas Police Officer Amber Guyger was indicted for murder in the shooting death of Botham Jean in September.

    She turned herself in and has posted bond, according to Dallas County DA Faith Johnson.

    “We presented the evidence and we explained the law,” said Johnson about the change from a charge of manslaughter to murder.

    Johnson also said her office interviewed 300 witnesses. “At the moment of the shooting, it was an intentional event,” she continued. Jean’s family was present at and spoke to reporters after learning of the decision.

    “I look forward to the next step, which is a conviction of murder for Amber Guyger. And more so, the proper penalty to reflect on the pain she has caused,” said Jean’s mother.

    His father talked about what a “sweet boy” Jean was, and added, “He didn’t deserve that.”

    Guyger’s defense team said they will consider seeking a change of venue now that she will face trial for murder.

    When asked about the indictment, they said, “What does she think about the indictment? Amber dedicated her adult life to defending and protecting people so this whole event has taken a toll emotionally and physically on her.

    She knows that she’s innocent. She knows that this was a tragic mistake so she’s holding up.”

    They will start filing motions on Monday morning and spend possibly a year or more preparing for trial.

    Dallas Police Chief U. Renee Hall emailed a statement to CBS 11 News that said in part, “Every person in the Dallas Police Department continues to feel anguish about this difficult and tragic event that occurred on September 6, 2018. We recognize and understand the national discord regarding the relationship between law enforcement and the communities we serve. ”

    Responding to the grand jury’s indictment, ACLU of Texas Director of Political Strategies Sharon Watkins Jones stated: “This indictment is a step toward justice for the family of Botham Jean. The Jean family’s loss cannot be restored to them, but we will continue to work to ensure that police officers are held to the same standards as everyone else in the Dallas community and across the state of Texas.”

    Hall terminated Guyger, who was initially arrested for manslaughter in the shooting death of Jean, 26.

    On the day after the shooting, Chief Hall said her department was seeking manslaughter charges against Guyger, a four-year veteran of the police force.

    But Hall said the Texas Rangers asked her department to hold off because they had learned new information and wanted to investigate further before a warrant was issued.

    An arrest affidavit prepared by the Texas Rangers provided a narrative of what allegedly happened the night Jean was killed. It appeared to be based almost entirely on the officer’s account.

    Guyger told investigators that she had just ended a 15-hour shift that Thursday when she returned in uniform to the South Side Flats apartment complex. She parked on the fourth floor, instead of the third, where she lived, according to the affidavit, possibly suggesting that she was confused or disoriented.

    When Guyger put her key in the apartment door, which was unlocked and slightly ajar (according to the affidavit), it opened. Inside, the lights were off, and she saw a figure in the darkness that cast a large silhouette across the room, according to the officer’s account.

    Guyger told police that she concluded her apartment was being burglarized and gave verbal commands to the figure, which ignored them. She then drew her weapon and fired twice at Jean, the affidavit said.

    She called 911 and, when asked where she was, returned to the front door to see she was in the wrong unit, according to the affidavit.

    The Dallas County medical examiner’s office said Jean died of a gunshot wound to the chest and abdomen. His death was ruled a homicide.

    Jean grew up in the Caribbean island nation of St. Lucia before attending college in Arkansas. He graduated in 2016 from Harding University. He had worked for the PricewaterhouseCoopers accounting firm in Dallas since graduating.

    Jean wasn’t the first person shot by Guyger. She shot a man named Uvaldo Perez on May 12, 2017, while on duty.

    According to an affidavit filed against Perez, police were looking for a suspect when Guyger and another officer were called to assist a third officer.

    Perez got out of a car and became combative with Guyger and another officer.

    A struggle began and Guyger fired her Taser at Perez, who then wrested it away from her. She then drew her gun and fired, wounding Perez in the abdomen.

    Sgt. Michael Mata, president of Dallas’ largest police union, the Dallas Police Association, said Guyger was a respected officer and well known to investigative units in the department because she worked on a high-risk team tasked with arresting some of the most violent offenders. On the day of the shooting, Guyger’s unit had arrested multiple suspects for armed robbery, he said.

    Mata called for Guyger to have fair treatment, but also said she should answer for her actions.

    Guyger was hired in November 2013 and assigned the Southeast Patrol Division.

    https://dfw.cbslocal.com/2018/11/30/...ed-for-murder/

  2. #12
    Moderator Ryan's Avatar
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    Amber Guyger guilty of murdering black neighbor Botham Jean after entering wrong home

    A Texas jury has found Amber Guyger, a white former police officer who shot a black neighbour in his own apartment, guilty of murder.

    Guyger fatally shot Botham Jean in his apartment in Dallas on 6 September last year. The 31-year-old claimed she parked on the wrong floor of the complex by mistake and entered Jean’s flat, thinking it was hers.

    In emotional testimony last week, Guyger said she shot the 26-year-old because she thought he was an intruder and feared for her life. She was fired from the Dallas police department and indicted on a murder charge.

    The jury had been sequestered because of the high profile of the case. Jean’s death was widely covered in the media and prompted protests in Dallas against police brutality and racism.

    Cheers erupted as the verdict was announced. Someone yelled: “Thank you, Jesus!”

    In a hallway outside the courtroom, a crowd celebrated and said “black lives matter” in raised voices. When the prosecutors walked into the hall, they broke into cheers.

    Jurors spent several hours deliberating on Monday, the seventh day of the trial, and continued on Tuesday. They had to decide if Guyger had a valid defence under Texas’ so-called “castle doctrine”, a stand your ground law. Judge Tammy Kemp controversially ruled on Monday that it could factor into their deliberations.

    The law allows for the use of deadly force in self-defence by civilians on their property. Guyger’s lawyers argued that she thought she was in her home when she killed Jean and sincerely believed her life was under threat.

    A prosecutor, Jason Fine, told the jury the “castle doctrine” should not apply: “It protects homeowners against intruders – and now all of a sudden the intruder is trying to use it against the homeowner.”

    He described much of her testimony as “garbage”, arguing that it was absurd for a trained police officer to miss numerous signs in the complex that she was one floor too high, and that Jean, who was unarmed and settling down on his couch to watch television and eat ice cream, did not represent an urgent deadly threat.

    Rather than act reasonably, prosecutors alleged, once Guyger decided there was an intruder in “her” apartment she burst in like a “commando”, fully intending to shoot.

    Guyger pleaded not guilty. Murder carries a potential life sentence. Kemp allowed the jury to consider convicting her of manslaughter, which typically carries a sentence of between two and 20 years.

    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...ry-botham-jean
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  4. #14
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    ‘Not racist but …’: White police officer who killed innocent black man in his home sent offensive texts

    By Katie Shepard
    MSN News

    When a white ex-Dallas police officer recounted her thinking as she fired the two shots that killed an innocent black man in his own living room last year, she told a jury it was fear, not racism, that drove her to pull the trigger.

    “This is not about hate,” she testified in court Friday. “It’s about being scared.”

    But after a jury convicted Amber Guyger, 31, of murder on Tuesday, prosecutors introduced text messages sent by the former officer that show her making offensive statements. In the texts, Guyger jokes about Martin Luther King Jr.’s death, mocks her black colleagues and discusses a dog that her friend warns “may be racist.”

    “It’s okay.. I’m the same,” Guyger wrote back about the dog, just days before she fatally shot 26-year-old Botham Jean in his Dallas apartment on Sept. 6, 2018. One minute later, she texted again: “I hate everything and everyone but y’all.”

    Prosecutors will use Guyger’s texts, her social media posts and her disciplinary record as a police officer to argue for a harsher sentence, though they haven’t specified what length of prison term they will request. The jury will decide her sentence, which could range from five years to life in prison, without the possibility of probation.

    The sentencing phase of the case will continue Wednesday, and the prosecution and defense will share additional testimony, including from Guyger who is expected to testify for a second time, The Washington Post reported.

    Other texts by Guyger had already played an important role in her trial, when prosecutors argued a sexually explicit exchange with her partner on the Dallas police force distracted her as she walked to Jean’s apartment, which was one floor above her own.

    Guyger’s defense disputed that claim, saying the two had ended an affair months before. She mistakenly entered the wrong apartment because she was tired after a nearly 14-hour shift, her defense attorney argued, and then shot Jean twice, thinking he was a burglar.

    That claim did not sway the jurors, who deliberated for five hours before reaching a unanimous guilty verdict around 10:45 a.m. Tuesday.

    The new texts introduced after the verdict showed her mocking black officers working for the Dallas Police Department with her partner, Officer Martin Rivera.

    “Damn I was at this area with 5 different black officers !!!” Rivera texted Guyger on March 9, 2018. “Not racist but damn.”

    Guyger echoed Rivera and added: “Not racist but just have a different way of working and it shows.”

    During a 2018 parade on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Guyger texted another officer about their lengthy shift as attendees celebrated the black civil rights activist’s legacy.

    “When does this end lol,” read a text sent to Guyger. She replied: “When MLK is dead … oh wait …”

    Prosecutors also showed images of Pinterest posts about guns and violence that Guyger had saved and commented on. One post showed a photo of a “Minion” character from the “Despicable Me” movies with the caption: “People are so ungrateful. No one ever thanks me for having the patience not to kill them.” Guyger commented about owning a gun on another meme that read, “I wear all black to remind you not to mess with me because I’m already dressed for your funeral.”

    After the verdict, Guyger’s former supervisor, Dallas Police Sgt. Robert Watson, also recounted filing an internal affairs referral after the officer allowed a handcuffed prisoner to escape her custody. She did not immediately report the full details of the incident, he said. But during cross-examination, Watson told the court he thought Guyger had been a dependable, hard-working officer.

    When Jean’s mother and sister took the stand Tuesday, they spoke emotionally about their relationship with the 26-year-old accountant who had immigrated to the United States from St. Lucia.

    Allison Jean took the stand and tearfully remembered her son’s life. He had placed 23rd on the island in the entrance exam that landed him a coveted spot at St. Lucia’s top high school. As a teen, he started a choir at his school and loved to sing. He moved to

    Arkansas to study accounting at Harding University before getting a job at financial firm PricewaterhouseCoopers. He would have been 28 on Sunday, she said.

    “I always refer to him as the glue of my three kids,” she said.

    Prosecutors played videos of Botham Jean singing at a worship service while his older sister, Allisa Findley, sat on the stand, the Dallas Morning News reported.

    “I want my brother back,” she told the court.

    In a red dress and pearls, Allison Jean wiped her eyes and told the jury how, while visiting her daughter in New York, she learned at 12:13 a.m. on Sept. 7, 2018, that her son had been killed.

    “My life has not been the same,” she said. “It has just been like a roller coaster. I cannot sleep; I cannot eat. It’s just been the most terrible time for me. I almost am not able to work, but I just try to busy myself just to see if it will get out of my head. But it’s been very, very, very difficult.”

    She told the court she had been sick often. She said she worried her youngest son was not coping with his brother’s death.

    “I have to try to keep the family together because everybody is in pain,” she said. “We had a very, very close family.”

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/no...xts/ar-AAIaahB
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    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  5. #15
    Moderator Ryan's Avatar
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    Amber Guyger sentenced to 10 years for murdering neighbor Botham Jean

    Guyger was found guilty of murder for fatally shooting Jean after she mistakenly entered his apartment and believed he was a burglar

    Amber Guyger, the former Dallas police officer convicted of murder for fatally shooting her unarmed neighbor in his apartment, was sentenced Wednesday to 10 years in prison.

    Guyger, 31, learned her fate after a sentencing hearing that included emotional testimony from the family of victim Botham Jean and revelations that she shared racist and offensive texts and social media posts.

    Prosecutors had asked jurors to sentence Guyger to at least 28 years — symbolic because Jean would have turned 28 last Sunday.

    Guyger did not testify during her sentencing, but has the opportunity to appeal the conviction in the unique case that has gripped the city of Dallas and shattered the idea that law-abiding citizens can be safe in their own homes.

    The jury was allowed to consider whether Jean's death was the result of "sudden passion," which meant Guyger acted in the heat of the moment. It carried a lesser sentence of two to 20 years behind bars.

    The five-year police veteran lived one floor below Jean, a 26-year-old accountant, in their apartment complex. She testified that she was off-duty but in uniform when she mistakenly entered his unit September 6, 2018, after a long shift at work, believed he was a burglar and shot him in the chest, saying she feared for her safety.

    Guyger is white and Jean was black, and his death stoked protests, led to Guyger's firing and renewed conversations about police use of force and racial bias.

    During the sentencing hearing Wednesday, Guyger's mother, Karen Guyger, 66, testified and said that her then-boyfriend had molested Guyger when she was 6.

    She said she reported it to the police and he was arrested. NBC News was unable to immediately learn the outcome of the case.

    Karen Guyger added that her daughter was distraught after killing Jean.

    "She feels very bad about it," Karen Guyger said through tears.

    Dallas County prosecutors built a case through Guyger's police disciplinary records, texts and social media posts to speak to her character and argue she is undeserving of a lenient sentence.

    Jurors were shown three Pinterest posts that Guyger had saved to her account and commented on. They included the picture of a military sniper with text that read: "Stay low, go fast; kill first, die last; one shot, one kill; no luck, all skill."

    In another Pinterest post, Guyger commented under a picture of a Minion from the movie "Despicable Me": "People are so ungrateful. No one ever thanks me for having the patience not to kill them," the comment read.

    New texts were also shown to jurors between Guyger and her married work partner, Officer Martin Rivera, with whom she had been having an affair. Prosecutors had revealed their sexually explicit texts during the trial, although the defense downplayed them, saying the two were already "ramping down" their relationship by the time the shooting occurred.

    Rivera texted in March 2018 to Guyger: "Damn I was at this area with 5 different black officers !!! Not racist but damn."

    She responded: "Not racist but just have a different way of working and it shows."

    https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...-jean-n1061146
    "How do you get drunk on death row?" - Werner Herzog

    "When we get fruit, we get the juice and water. I ferment for a week! It tastes like chalk, it's nasty" - Blaine Keith Milam #999558 Texas Death Row

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