Botham Jean was the owner of a Dallas apartment when an off-duty officer, believing he was a bulgar, shot him!
So let’s dive into some trivia and facts about this case!
- On September 6, 2018, off-duty Dallas patrol officer Amber Guyger entered the Dallas apartment of Botham Jean
- She shot and killed him
- Guyger said that she had entered the apartment believing it was her own
- She shot Jean believing he was a burglar
- Guyger’s apartment was on the third floor
- Directly below Jean’s apartment which was on the fourth floor
- In a multi-apartment dwelling with mostly identical floor plans on each level
- After she shot Jean she called 911
- Jean was taken to a nearby hospital
- There he died from his wound
- The investigation was taken over by the Texas Rangers
- Who were responsible for Guyger’s arrest three days later
- Guyger was charged with manslaughter
- A 2nd degree felony in Texas
- Which carries a sentence of 2 to 20 years in a state prison and/or a fine not to exceed $10,000
- On September 24, Guyger was terminated from the police force
- After being placed on administrative leave since the shooting
- On November 30, 2018, Guyger was indicted on murder charges by a Dallas County grand jury
- On September 22, 2019, the day before the trial began, Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot took part in an interview regarding the trial in spite of a gag order issued by Judge Tammy Kemp in January of that year
- After questioning jurors, who reported that they had not seen the interview or other media coverage of the trial, Kemp denied the defense’s motion for a mistrial
- And sequestered the jury
- On October 1, 2019, Guyger was found guilty of murder
- The jury deliberated for six hours to reach the verdict of murder
- The jurors also considered the lesser charge of manslaughter
- According to NPR, “Under Texas law, convicting a defendant of murder requires proving someone intentionally killed another person, as opposed to manslaughter, in which prosecutors have to show someone was killed because of recklessness”
- Guyger is the first Dallas police officer to be convicted of murder since the 1973 murder of Santos Rodriguez
- Following the shooting, an attorney representing Jean’s family accused the Dallas police department of smearing Jean’s reputation
- The lawyers also disputed the account of the incident that Guyger told officials
- Which was recorded in the arrest warrant affidavit
- And asserted that two independent witnesses had come forward to give recollections that conflict with Guyger’s account
- Jean was a 26-year-old accountant for PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and native of St. Lucia
