Jury awards Botham Jean’s family almost $100M in civil suit against Amber Guyger
.JPG "Fired Dallas police officer Amber Guyger looks toward her attorney before proceedings in her murder trial on Sept. 25, 2019, in Dallas. Guyger was accused of shooting her unarmed neighbor, Botham Jean, in his Dallas apartment.")
Jurors in a federal civil trial have awarded the family of Botham Jean almost $100 million in their lawsuit against former Dallas police officer Amber Guyger, who is serving a prison sentence for Jean’s murder, according to KDFW-TV.
The verdict was announced Wednesday afternoon, Nov. 20, in the wrongful death case that began on Monday. Guyger did not attend the trial and did not present a defense.
Jurors awarded Jean’s estate $10.25 million, $14.2 million each to his mother and father, and $60 million in punitive damages, for a total of $98,650,000 in damages, KERA News reported.
Guyger was convicted of killing Jean in his own apartment in 2018 after she said she mistakenly entered the apartment one floor above hers.
Guyger said she thought she was in her apartment and that Jean was an intruder. She was fired after the fatal shooting.
Jean’s family filed a civil suit against Guyger, alleging that she is liable for using excessive force that violated the 26-year-old man’s constitutional rights and resulted in his death, according to the lawsuit. The City of Dallas was removed as a defendant in the civil suit.
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“Defendant Guyger, without justification and the need to do so, used excessive force as described above, and killed Jean without legal justification,” the suit states.
Guyger was denied parole last month after serving half of her 10-year sentence in Jean’s death, and will not be eligible again until 2026, according to online records from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
This story was originally published November 20, 2024 at 4:11 PM.
