On September 6, 2018, off-duty Dallas Police Department patrol officer Amber Guyger entered the Dallas, Texas, apartment of 26-year-old accountant Botham Jean and fatally shot him. Guyger said that she had entered the apartment believing it was her own and that she shot Jean believing he was a burglar. Guyger was not arrested for several days, and ...
Trial judge Tammy Kemp, who is also African-American, drew controversy when she embraced Guyger and handed her a Bible, with the Freedom from Religion Foundation criticizing her for alleged proselytizing. On October 16, 2019, Guyger's attorneys filed a notice of appeal requesting a new trial.
Dallas Assistant Police Chief Avery Brown denied that Joshua Brown's death was related to Guyger's trial. A second suspect was arrested the next day, and on December 8, all three men were indicted on charges of capital murder, although one of them remained at large.
Guyger testified that she hated herself and asked for forgiveness every day. "I hate that I have to live with this every single day of my life ," she said, in tears. Botham Jean's mother testifies at sentencing after ex-cop Amber Guyger is found guilty of murder.
Dallas (CNN) An attorney for Amber Guyger, the White former Dallas police officer convicted of killing of Black neighbor Botham Jean in his apartment, asked a Texas appeals court Tuesday to acquit her of murder or find her guilty of a lesser charge. Guyger testified at her 2019 trial that after working long hours on September 6, 2018, ...
Ex-officer Amber Guyger will be housed in the same prison as the woman who killed singer Selena. "Intentionally or knowingly killing another human is an evil act," Mowla argued Tuesday. "And that's what she was convicted of.
Guyger's lawyer, Michael Mowla, argued before the three-judge appeals court that Guyger's mistaken belief she was in her own apartment negates "evil intent" to kill. A conviction of criminally negligent homicide, he argued, would be more appropriate.
The state, represented by Dallas County Assistant District Attorney Douglas Gladden, argued that mistaken belief and mistake of fact is not a justifiable defense.
Jean's mother, Allison, told CNN she was confident the appeals court would uphold the murder conviction.
She took the life of a human being," Gladden told the appeals courts. Two jurors in Amber Guyger's trial say they believe Botham Jean 'would want to forgive her'. "She didn't make a mistake about that. She knew Botham was a living human being. She pointed a gun at him.