An Ex-Dallas Police officer Amber Guyger who shot and killed her neighbour after claiming she walked into his apartment by mistake, has been sentenced ten years in prison.
Amber Guyger was sentenced on Wednesday by a jury who heard tearful statements from family members and friends of the victim, 26-year-old Botham Jean. The jury announced that they rejected Guyger’s argument that she killed Jean under the influence of ‘sudden passion,’ yet no explanation was given for the lenient sentence.
After the sentence was announced, Jean’s relatives left the courtroom visibly irate and began shouting as a crowd gathered. One family member screamed: ‘Ten years, that’s a slap in the fucking face!’
Guyger was found guilty of murdering Jean on Tuesday. The jury rejected her argument that she acted in self-defense when she killed Jean in his own home on September 6, 2018. It took the jury less than two days to reach to decision.
Jean had been eating ice cream in his home just before Guyger burst in and shot him. She later claimed she mistook his third-floor apartment for her fourth-floor residence in the same building.
artment the sentence was announced, Dallas County Assistant District Attorney LaQuita Long suggested that the sentence should be no lower than 28 years – because Jean would have turned 28-years-old this week. Long said: ‘To (Guyger), (Jean) was just a silhouette in a room. To everyone who knew Bo, he was the brightest light in the room.’
Guyger’s lawyer, Toby Shook, asked the jury to show his client mercy. Shook said Guyger made a series of ‘horrible mistakes’ that made her ‘pull that trigger in an instant, an instant that she’ll have to live with for the rest of her life.’ Botham Jean’s father, Bertrum, also took the witness stand on Wednesday and sobbed as he told the jury his son’s death has traumatized his family. He said: ‘How could that happen to us, our family? How could we have lost Botham — such a sweet boy. He tried his best to live a good, honest life. He loved God. He loved everyone. How could this happen to him?’
How can it be possible. I’ll never see him again.’ During her trial, Guyger never disputed killing Jean. She argued she acted in self-defense after mistaking Jean for an intruder in her apartment.
The courtroom was also forced to watch the body cam footage of their son’s death, which was played for the jury.
It was immediately unclear if Guyger planned to appeal the sentence, Metro news had reported.