Former Dallas cop Amber Guyger asking appellate court to toss murder conviction for killing Botham Jean
Former Dallas cop Amber Guyger asking appellate court to toss murder conviction for killing Botham Jean
Jurors convicted Guyger in 2019 of murder for fatally shooting Botham Jean in his own apartment. Now her lawyers want justices to acquit her of murder and find her guilty on a lesser charge.
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Former Dallas police officer Amber Guyger was sentenced to 10 years in prison for the 2018 shooting death of Botham Jean.(Archive Photos)
By Krista M. Torralva
Lawyers for former Dallas police officer Amber Guyger will make their case Tuesday before a panel of appellate justices to toss her murder conviction. Dallas County prosecutors say the jury’s decision should stand.
Guyger, convicted of murder in 2019 for the shooting death of Botham Jean in his own apartment, argued in court records that, at most, she should be convicted of criminally negligent homicide. That charge is a lesser felony and punishable by up to two years in prison.
Guyger testified she mistakenly entered the wrong apartment one floor above hers and shot Jean, believing he was an intruder, on Sept. 6, 2018. Guyger had just finished her shift and was still in uniform when she shot Jean with her department-issued weapon. Jean was eating ice cream on his couch when Guyger entered the apartment.
Jurors heard six days of testimony before convicting Guyger of murder in October 2019. She is serving a 10-year prison sentence.
Guyger’s lawyers say that although she intended to shoot Jean when she fired her gun, a necessary finding for a murder charge, she believed she had the right to act in self defense. Texas allows for deadly force to be used in self defense situations.
“A rational jury would have concluded that Guyger was reasonable in her belief that she entered her apartment, saw an intruder who did not show his hands, and was justified in using deadly force in self defense,” her lawyers wrote in a brief filed with a request for a hearing.
But the jury that convicted Guyger considered the state’s castle doctrine, the right to use deadly force to defend yourself, when deciding whether to convict Guyger. They rejected that idea that it applied to her.
During deliberations, the jury sent the court a question about the castle doctrine.
“What would’ve happened if Botham would’ve shot her for coming into his home?” said an attorney for Jean’s family, Daryl K. Washington said during the trial, citing the jury’s question. “Would he have been able to use the castle doctrine?”
Guyger’s attorneys wrote that the justices for the Fifth Court of Appeals in Dallas should acquit Guyger of murder. If the judges instead convict her of criminally negligent homicide, they should order a new trial on her punishment, her lawyers further said.
Dallas County prosecutors for District Attorney John Creuzot are fighting to uphold her conviction and say Guyger’s conviction is appropriate. They argue she is only trying to undo a verdict she didn’t want.
“Because intentionally killing a man in his own apartment is murder, the State of Texas submits that [Guyger’s] conviction is just fine, and this Court should affirm it,” prosecutors wrote in a brief filed ahead of the hearing.
The hearing will be streamed on the court’s YouTube channel. Guyger will not be in the courtroom.
Bu bu I thought she was sorry...
Former Dallas cop Amber Guyger asking appellate court to toss murder conviction for killing Botham Jean
Jurors convicted Guyger in 2019 of murder for fatally shooting Botham Jean in his own apartment. Now her lawyers want justices to acquit her of murder and find her guilty on a lesser charge.
Former Dallas police officer Amber Guyger was sentenced to 10 years in prison for the 2018 shooting death of Botham Jean.(Archive Photos)
By Krista M. Torralva
Lawyers for former Dallas police officer Amber Guyger will make their case Tuesday before a panel of appellate justices to toss her murder conviction. Dallas County prosecutors say the jury’s decision should stand.
Guyger, convicted of murder in 2019 for the shooting death of Botham Jean in his own apartment, argued in court records that, at most, she should be convicted of criminally negligent homicide. That charge is a lesser felony and punishable by up to two years in prison.
Guyger testified she mistakenly entered the wrong apartment one floor above hers and shot Jean, believing he was an intruder, on Sept. 6, 2018. Guyger had just finished her shift and was still in uniform when she shot Jean with her department-issued weapon. Jean was eating ice cream on his couch when Guyger entered the apartment.
Jurors heard six days of testimony before convicting Guyger of murder in October 2019. She is serving a 10-year prison sentence.
Guyger’s lawyers say that although she intended to shoot Jean when she fired her gun, a necessary finding for a murder charge, she believed she had the right to act in self defense. Texas allows for deadly force to be used in self defense situations.
“A rational jury would have concluded that Guyger was reasonable in her belief that she entered her apartment, saw an intruder who did not show his hands, and was justified in using deadly force in self defense,” her lawyers wrote in a brief filed with a request for a hearing.
But the jury that convicted Guyger considered the state’s castle doctrine, the right to use deadly force to defend yourself, when deciding whether to convict Guyger. They rejected that idea that it applied to her.
During deliberations, the jury sent the court a question about the castle doctrine.
“What would’ve happened if Botham would’ve shot her for coming into his home?” said an attorney for Jean’s family, Daryl K. Washington said during the trial, citing the jury’s question. “Would he have been able to use the castle doctrine?”
Guyger’s attorneys wrote that the justices for the Fifth Court of Appeals in Dallas should acquit Guyger of murder. If the judges instead convict her of criminally negligent homicide, they should order a new trial on her punishment, her lawyers further said.
Dallas County prosecutors for District Attorney John Creuzot are fighting to uphold her conviction and say Guyger’s conviction is appropriate. They argue she is only trying to undo a verdict she didn’t want.
“Because intentionally killing a man in his own apartment is murder, the State of Texas submits that [Guyger’s] conviction is just fine, and this Court should affirm it,” prosecutors wrote in a brief filed ahead of the hearing.
The hearing will be streamed on the court’s YouTube channel. Guyger will not be in the courtroom.
Bu bu I thought she was sorry...
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But I thought she said she was sorry tho,I wonder if the family still forgives her