Verdict Is in for Ex-Cop Who Killed Man in His Home
Amber Guyger is found guilty of murder
(Newser) – The verdict is in for Amber Guyger. On Tuesday a Dallas jury unanimously found her guilty of murdering Botham Jean after entering his apartment last year by mistake, NBC News reports. The former Dallas police officer had pleaded not guilty, saying her building's floor plan was confusing, but prosecutors argued she should have known it wasn't her place. The case also generated widespread anger because Guyger, 31, is white, and Botham, a 26-year-old accountant from St. Lucia in the West Indies, was black. Guyger expressed remorse in court and said race played no role in the shooting, per the Huffington Post. "I feel like a terrible person. I feel like a piece of crap," she testified while weeping, adding later, "And I wish he was the one with the gun who killed me."
But prosecutors argued that the officer—who had just worked a 13 1/2 hour shift—should have seen she was on the 4th floor, not the 3rd floor she lived on, due to the presence of a skylight, a decorative planter, Jean's red doormat, and other hallway differences, per CNN. "So, her eyes aren't working, her ears aren't working, her sense of touch isn't working, her sense of smell isn't working?" said prosecutor Jason Fine on Monday. "I mean, my God. This is crazy." Guyger, who was fired soon after the September 2018 incident, could face life in prison. Cheers erupted outside the courtroom and Jean's family broke down sobbing after the verdict was read, per the Washington Post. "Yes Lord! You never failed me yet! #JusticeforBotham," Jean's mother Allison Jean wrote on Facebook, per WFAA. (Read more murder stories.)