Ex-Dallas cop and convicted murderer Amber Guyger
A Texas jury has found Amber Guyger, an off-duty cop who entered the wrong apartment and killed the resident, a black man, guilty of murder.
She was fired from the police force. Now, she faces up to life in prison.
The case received national media attention, in part because Guyger is white and the victim was black. She claimed self-defense, arguing she felt threatened by a “large man” inside what she mistakenly believed was her own apartment. The victim, Botham Jean, was unarmed and did not attack her. There was evidence she was distracted by sexting with her boyfriend when she wandered into his apartment.
Guyger lived in the same apartment building, but on a different floor.
Initially charged with manslaughter by the prosecutor, a grand jury upgraded the charges to murder, and the jury agreed.
The case sparked racial tensions because it was another instance of a white cop killing an unarmed black man with weak justification. The “blue wall” also came into play; at her trial, the lead local police investigator expressed his opinion that she didn’t commit a crime. Jean’s family criticized the police handling of the case, and accused the Dallas PD of smearing him. The investigation was taken over by the Texas Rangers (the state police) early in the case.
It ain’t over until the appeal. (Appeals?) Which will be on page 10. Ummm this is Texas so the prosecutor took death off the table?