Ex-Dallas officer Amber Guyger appeals murder conviction, seeks shorter sentence
An appeal was filed this week seeking a shorter prison sentence for a former Dallas police officer who killed an unarmed Black man she mistakenly believed was an intruder inside her apartment.
Amber Guyger was found guilty on Oct. 1 of murder in the death of Botham Jean, whom she shot in his apartment.
On Sept. 6, 2018, Guyger, who is white, entered Jean’s apartment, mistaking it for her own, and believed he was an intruder, she testified.
She had just finished working an extended shift of about 14 hours for the Dallas Police Department and was still in uniform when she shot Jean. The department fired her and she was subsequently sentenced to 10 years in prison following a murder conviction.
The appeal asks that the court set aside Guyger’s murder conviction, or set aside the murder conviction, convict her of criminally negligent homicide instead, and set a new hearing for her punishment.
Botham Jean’s sister, Allisa Findley, said Guyger’s appeal is disrespectful and that the court should have sentenced her to life for murdering her brother. Jean was doing nothing wrong on the day he was murdered, Findley said. Jean was sitting in his own apartment, “minding his own business,” she said.
“I feel like she received a slap on the wrist for taking my brother’s life,” Findley said. ‘This tells me that she feels like she didn’t do anything wrong. She did not step on my brother’s toe. She took his life.“
Some of the comments that she has read on social media are from people who believe the family deserves this result because they are a forgiving family. But Findley countered that only one family member has forgiven Guyger. She has not.
“She should have received life, so she should take her 10 years in prison and shut up,” Findley said. “If the court was to do this it would prove that, yes, there is systemic racism and white privilege does prevail over Black life. I’m hoping this appeal gets thrown out and her conviction holds. I hoping they overturn the 10 years and give her life instead.”
Guyger killed Jean, but she didn’t murder him, defense says
Guyger’s attorneys say what the fired police officer did was akin to self-defense. Although Jean did not present an actual threat to Guyger, because she mistakenly perceived his presence as a threat she was justified in using deadly force to protect herself against that perceived threat, according to Guyger’s appellate brief.
Guyger’s attorneys argue that the evidence presented at trial was legally insufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Guyger committed murder because she mistakenly formed a reasonable belief that she entered her apartment and there was an intruder inside. Guyger’s mistaken belief negated her responsibility for Jean’s murder, according to Guyger’s defense.
Although she intentionally and knowingly caused Jean’s death, she had the right to use deadly force in self-defense since it was her belief that deadly force was immediately necessary and was reasonable under the circumstances, Guyger’s appellate brief said.
What happened to Jean occurred because of his malfunctioning door, improper building design and incompetent building management, Guyger’s attorneys argued. Guyger also argues that the law allows a person to use force if there is a reasonable belief of apparent danger, saying that the danger does not have to be real.
A person is justified in using deadly force if he is protecting against another’s use of deadly force against himself or someone else, or to prevent the commission of an aggravated kidnapping, murder, sexual assault, aggravated sexual assault, robbery, or aggravated robbery, the appellate brief says.
When the court considers all the events occurring before, during and after the shooting, the evidence is overwhelming that Guyger mistakenly believed she entered her apartment and an intruder was inside, Guyger’s attorneys argue.
She intended to shoot to kill, but that was how she was trained, and shooting to kill is reasonable if an intruder is in one’s home, the defense said. Guyger was frightened and reasonably believed that her life was in danger, and no other conclusion is rational, the appellate brief argues.
This story was originally published August 7, 2020 at 2:39 PM.
