Warning: Graphic content, readers’ discretion advised. This story contains a recollection of crime and can be triggering to some readers discretion advised.
Former police officer, Amber Guyger, was charged for shooting and killing her unarmed neighbor, Botham Jean, inside of his own apartment that Guyger mistook for her apartment.
a resonable misstake or a murder ?
or a defendant who may not be what she seems
theres a lot of dangers in the world and our home is always supposed to be the place where we’re safe but for one young man it prove to be anything but.
on september 6 2018 in dallas Texas police officer amber guyger returns back to her apartment complex after a 13-hours shift
but she doesn’t go to her unit on the third floor ,instead she ends up on on the fourth floor.
guyger claimed she mistakenly thought she entered her apartment
when in in reality was the home of her 26 year old neighbor Botham Jean
there were signs that would have showed her she was going to the wrong place at the outset when she walks up to the front door there’s a red doormat that is not her own
that should have been a signal not only that but entering into the apartment
it very much looked like the other bachelor’s apatment, which you would espect in a bachelor apartment to look like.
there was an ironing boar that was out, there were pictures and hangings on the wall that presumably did not look like the things in her own house.
then there are other subtile signs so the amount of time that it takes to navigate from one floor to the other usually goes off in your mind it’s taking a little longer than normaly does.
and futher you look at the totality of the mistakes right it may be all small things but if it’s ten small things at what point do you kind of wake up and understand thet you’re in the wrong place.
investigators would conclude that at the thime guyger entered the unite jean was on the couch eating ice cream
evidence would even suggest that Jean may have been a cowering or ducking position when shot, so then why did guyger shoot him
allthough she failed to clearly state this on the 911 call she later said she thought jean was an intruder and her life was in danger
that she reasonably perceived a threat here, she entered into an apartment that was not her own ,it didn’t have the same dorrmat presumably the affixments and things on the wall were not like her own .
not only that he was not armed maybe he spoke on a loud voice but of course that’s because she was om his apartment.
concealment and cover should come before you firing your weapon when possible tactically would have been to back out and try to take cover she had a radio so she could have called 911
was this guyger’s fault because she was over tired from a long shift or because she was distracted ….
the investigation would shoe that guyger had meen sexting wtih her partner occasional lover officer martin rivera sending message as
” super horny today”
and ” wanna touch ?”
infact guyger was on the phone with as she pulled int o her apartment complex but distracted to a point where you would enter an apartment that was the wrong apartment think that someone ‘s a assailant and killed them that’s quite a leep.
not to mention she is an emergency service worker, that’s why we give them so much praise because they are constantly working under extrem condition where they are a little bit tired a little bit distracted but that t does not distract them from doing their job.
as guyger exitedly tries to explain what happened
“yes , i thougt it was my apartment, i’m fucked , i’m gonna lose my job i thougt it was my apartment, i could have’ve sworn i parked on the 3rd floor “
guyger’s 911 call was very interesting she seemed to be very focused on the consequences to her .
of course she continue to reiterate that she thouhgt it was her apartment.it was some 19 times she talks about parking on the wrong floor , which how she would know that if she had just shot someone.
it seemed that she was getting together her exuse that she was going to say to the 911 opertator and whoever else to justify this shooting Botham Jean
in fairness a shooting is a life- altering event the overhelming majority of police officers go through 20-25 years of service and never fire their weapons
and to shoot your weapon and hit someon and know that person probably going to expire is a life altering event
so she certainly did sounda little panicked on the 911 calls however somewhat reasonable
towards the end of the 911 call we hear officers responding to the crime scene that’s when new pieces of the story come into focus.
Dallas police offver amber guyger shot and killed her unarmed neighbor Botham Jean inside his home, according to guyger she misstakenly believed jean was an assailant in her own apartment as she ‘s on the phone with 911 dispatch
law eforcement rushed to the scene,officers then race into jean’s apartment while the responding officers desperately tried but ultimately couldn’t save jean’s life
the audio and vide at the time told a lot about what amber guyger did
rather didn’t do
more than likely she failed to render aid to botham jean it’s just plain and simple she’s not administering any CPR or anything like that when the offivers arrived
there’s no blood on her, she hadn’t really touched him,neither she asking for any advice from the 911 officer or discussing what type of medical aid can be given in order to save his life.
as a police officer someone’s injured whether it’s at your hand or the hand of another it is your responsibility to render aid
it’s the duty and responsibility of a police officer to protect the rights of an individual they are arresting
so how coulda trained police do this
when this shooting happened the blame didn’t just rest on guyger.
jean’s family filed a lawsuit against the city of dallas which at the time of this taping is still ongoing.we learned about ther ratification of amber guyger’s behavior by the Dallas police departement, they provide her training her equipment, they retained her as an officer .
amber guyger was asked a number of questions about training,she stated under oath that she did not recall her CPR training she stated under oath that she did not recall her de- escalation training so there were serious training issus that led to the death of Botham
amber guyger talked about being extremely sleepy ,she talked about the issues of police officers having to work excessive overtime hours
those are issues that we believe places the dity of dallas on the hook.
so it’s very interesting when we look at the police departement ,they’re not necessarily responsible, what could police department in and of itself have done to avoid this situation ,not much .
they could require police officers to leave their firearms at work.
mostly police departement do not do that because the reality is we do in many cases want police officers to be able to take action off duty if the see a crime being committed
city of Dallas has been exposed enough to put a significant pressure on them to want to make this case go away in terms of the settlement.
there would be a lot of explaining to do , but the person we wanted to hear from the most was the shooter herserlf
” it was the only option that went through my head, i was at home”
amber guyger the former Dallas police officer who shot botham jean to death in his own apartment was arrested and ultimately charged with murder.
during her 2019 trial the question for the jury was whether guyger’s mistakes and actions were criminal a question thatbecame all the moce complicated when guyger took the stand.
amber guyger took the stand in her trial and that was kind of a no- brainer often we don’t want defendants takes the stands in this case she had to she had to tell the side of her story because the evidence were owerwhelming
the defense’s case was entirely turned on whether her mistake was reasonable if her mistake was reasonable then everything that flowed from the mistake was just simply that a mistake and it was exusable
wheter or not this was an accident ,she went to this house saw the door open the doormat was different, the accountrements in the house were different
there was a different person in the house. don’t see how that is reasonably perceived
as mistake.
she was a police officer , did somehat work against her?
what do we think of police officers ,we think of those are folks who have some type of heightened sense of awareness and where they are
when the prosecution questioned guyger they tried to show the jury just how irrational she acted that night.
when law enforcement officers encounter a circumstance where they might be confronting somebody in some type of illegal behavior such as a burglary
the idea is not for them to rush in ” Rambo style” and confront a burgler because that putt them in danger that they don’t necessarily need to be in
then guyger dropped a bmbshell never a police officer testfy that they intended to kill someone. police officer testify they have intended to stop the threat they intended to protect themselves,protect someoneone else police officer are not trained to kill
she absolutely showed a high level of remorse it wasn’t remorse just because she was going to jail this was something she didn’t in an outcome that she didn’t intend
amber guyger’s testimony seemed a little bit contrived she was very focused on herself and what was going to happen to her
of course there were tears that were being shed and it’s hard to watch someone hurting but it wasn’t entirely moving given the gravity of the mistake and the life that she taken.
the jury unanimously find the defendant guilty amber guyger guilty of murder as charched in the indictment
it is very rare that law enforcemeent officers are even charged led alone convicted
no reasonable arguments as to the reasonableness of her misstake
this case stands for the proposition that everyone will be held accountable it doesn’t make any different what your profession is or who you are
the trial itself was dramatic.
but what happened at sentencing was something entirely unexpceted.
former Dallas police officer amber guyger was convicted of murdering her neighbor botham jean in his own apartment after she claimed she accidentally entered the wrong unit
when it cam to sentencing the state introduced new evidence the raciallly charged text message history of guyger in one messgage she arguably pokes fun at the death of martin luther king jr and in another criticizes black officers
her text messages reveal that she’s definitely got some issues of bias or at very least some type of insecurity about being around and or working with black people.
the same jury that convicted guyger now had to determine her sentence which ranged from five to 99 years in prison.
the decision: 10 years imprisonment in Texas departement of criminal justice
the sentence was a little lenient the jury took some mercy on her probably because they felt sympathy for miss guyger.
the sentence was apropiate it goes far beyond prison, her life is changed if not ruined…this is going to haunt her .
a diverse jury from across the county thaey heard all of the evidence and they made their decisison based on the facts on the case.
but the suprises wouldn’t stop there
after the sentencing jean’s brother brant took the stand and in an incredible twist he asked for the court’s permission to give guyger a hug
it’s just amazing that that young man could find that amount of forgiveness and love in in his heartthe best qualities of his brother
were showing through him at that moment.
then judge tammy kemp followed suit
and not only hugged guyger but lent her her bible.
maybe the testimony of mis guyger really made a lasting impression on everyone in that courtroom
there was any evidence that showed that she’s an inherently bad person, the judge obviously felt that she was not an evil person and she responded was in an appropiate way.
at the time of this taping guyger has appealed her case arguing she shouldn’t have been convicted of murder rather her legal team says she should either received an acquittal or a conviction on the lower charge of criminally negligent homicide and be re-sentenced.
all courts don’t like to overturn jury verdicts expecially in this type of case when we talk about this criminal negligence standard it means that there was ssomething that one shoudl have known and they didn’t know .
if she herself understands said she intended to kill someone,it may be a dangerous slippery slope for her
know asking to be re sentenced maybe she gets re sentenced to worse the fact that she appeals on those grounds that she believes that the conviction should be thrown out is evidence that she is not repentant
and she does not really feel sorry it really draws some questions to the tears that she said in trial
