Amber Guyger sentenced to 10 years in murder of Botham Jean

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Washington Post

Amber Guyger, the former Dallas police officer convicted of murder for shooting and killing an unarmed black neighbor in his own apartment, was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Wednesday. The 31-year-old woman was convicted of the 2018 slaying of Botham Jean, a 26-year-old St. Lucia native and accountant. The killing sparked outrage across the country and drew protesters to Dallas streets.

The ex-officer claimed she thought she was entering her own apartment and, mistaking Jean for a burglar, shot him out of fear for her life. Prosecutors said Jean, who had been sitting on his couch eating ice cream, posed no risk — and jurors rejected the self-defense argument.

Under an unusual Texas law, the 12-member jury that convicted Guyger was also tasked with determining her punishment. Jurors rejected the “sudden passion” defense, which would have lowered the sentencing range to two to 20 years. But they chose a punishment on the lower end of the five to 99-year range allowed for murder. Before breaking for deliberations, the 12-member jury heard testimony from friends and family of both Guyger and Jean, who described each in glowing terms and discussed the far-reaching consequences of their fatal encounter.

Prosecutors asked jurors to consider how the loss of Jean — a loving, encouraging man who spent his short life wanting to help others — impacted not only those close to him, but “all of us.” “We all were robbed of Botham and the greatness that he brought to Dallas County,” one prosecutor said. “But honestly, who knows what his impact could truly have been had his life not been taken from him.”

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/10/02/botham-jeans-family-friends-testify-during-amber-guyger-sentencing/

---

Original article -

Breaking: Ex-Dallas officer Amber Guyger sentenced to 10 years in prison for the murder of Botham Jean

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/10/02/botham-jeans-family-friends-testify-during-amber-guyger-sentencing/

[StevieM]

1. If she was black and he was white she would gotten the death penalty. (eom)

[iluvtennis]

4. Yep.

[BumRushDaShow]

7. The miraculous thing was

that she was even charged and when charged, it was for murder, and then with that charge, it was not considered an "over-charge" and she actually got convicted for that.... And honestly, I expected 5 years suspended sentence and it was for much more.

[StevieM]

8. The sentence could be reduced even further.

~snip~

Before the jury entered court Wednesday morning, Judge Kemp clarified that the prosecution had no objection to the defense request that Sudden Passion be included as part of the charge against Guyger. Texas law defines sudden passion as “passion directly caused by and arising out of provocation by the individual killed.”

If the jury accepts that Guyger’s actions were taken in the heat of the moment, it could reduce the sentencing range to two to 20 years.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/jury-sentences-amber-guyger-to-10-years-in-prison/ar-AAIcqZk?&ocid=spartanntp

[BumRushDaShow]

11. I think that page was a running commentary as stuff happened

and they apparently took that instruction into consideration before they finally came up with their final sentence (meaning the 10 years is it) -- where the headline is the final result.

[BumRushDaShow]

13. I just added the updated article and they did confirm they considered the "sudden passion"

and rejected it -

Under an unusual Texas law, the 12-member jury that convicted Guyger was also tasked with determining her punishment. Jurors rejected the “sudden passion” defense, which would have lowered the sentencing range to two to 20 years.

[StevieM]

24. Well then this is entirely on the judge.

It sounds like this particular judge would have jumped at the opportunity to only give her 2 years.

I also wonder if she will actually serve 10? Isn't there time off for good behavior? Parole?

[BumRushDaShow]

25. Not sure how Texas deals with this sort of thing

I know sometimes a judge can negate the jury sentence and some sentences include "time served", etc. Maybe someone from TX can chime in.

[yardwork]

31. I think this black female judge is protecting against future appeals.

She's allowed the defense a lot of leeway, meaning that Guyger is unlikely to win appeals.

[walkingman]

9. She was a cop so probably not. Lucky she was convicted at all.

We have special rules for cops, veterans, politicians and wealthy folks in America. Only the worker bees face the full impact of the justice system and then people of color are definitely judged more harshly.

[iluvtennis]

2. This is an unjust punishment. She was convicted of intentional murder and only got 10 years. That's

not enough for murdering a man sitting in his home eating ice cream.

Another marginalization and under valuing of a black/brown life.

[onetexan]

12. with good behavior she'll probably be out 3-4 years

[spike jones]

29. And back on a police force soon after. Is that possible? n/t

[Jake Stern]

30. Barring a pardon, no

As a felon she cannot posses a firearm which severely limits a potential LE career.

On Edit: I believe she has to serve a certain percentage of her sentence before she can ask the Texas Board of Pardons for clemency.

[maddiemom]

42. This woman was a MESS...

considering all the background that came up at her trial. Certainly she should never have her hands on a gun again. And she was apparently SOBER? I'm sure that I'm one of many who, having no personal involvement with the victim, was still sickened the first time I heard the story (and I'm a senior white woman). Nonetheless, every story that confirms that many people who become cops have no business in uniform is one story too many (and I've also known many good cops over the years). Locally a well-known homeless (and harmless) man was shot dead in front of the local high school after hours ( I'd just left from teaching there and the kids had been long gone) by a local policeman. He'd been holding, I think, a broom, or some other harmless tool. It was written off as an unfortunate incident, and, most sadly, his family across the state had already written him off and didn't care. Both victim and cop were white. Stories like these SHOULD affect any caring human being.

[Jake Stern]

33. Her conviction is for a so called "3g" offense (Murder)

which means she'll spend a minimum of 5 years in prison before being eligible for petitioning the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles for parole.

See: [link:http://texasparole.com/?page_id=132]

[MicaelS]

18. The jury was majority female and POC.

The judge was black.

What do you have to say to that?

[iluvtennis]

27. This tweet says it much better than I can...

Francis Maxwell
@francismmaxwell
·
1h
There's people in prison serving life sentences for weed, meanwhile a former officer gets sentenced to ten years for shooting an unarmed black man in his own apartment. There are two systems. #AmberGuyger

Link to tweet

[GulfCoast66]

36. Which had absolutely nothing to do with this case.

The sentence was decided by an overwhelmingly minority jury. What, 2 white folks or so out of 12?

If you don’t like the sentence they are the only ones you can aim your ire at.

They sat thru the testimony. None of us did.

[druidity33]

37. There is disparity in the system. That cannot be denied. nt.

[GulfCoast66]

40. Oh, these is no argument at all.

The racial inequities in our judicial system are legion and go back to slavery and Jim Crow.

No debate about that at all.

But in this single case, all decisions were made by a group of people who were overwhelmingly people of color. As is proper in that town.

20 years ago. 10 even, an all white jury would have been ‘managed’. I see this as progress.

And will not criticize the jury.

I think most people outraged about this sentence don’t know the particulars of the jury make up or that they decided the sentence.

[Grokenstein]

3. Light AF

Guess they felt they had to toss a bone to the trump trash in order to stave off "civil war." /s

[FailureToCommunicate]

5. Only ten years for murder?!?

White cop, black ( innocent) victim.

[StevieM]

10. It could wind up being even less.

~snip~

Before the jury entered court Wednesday morning, Judge Kemp clarified that the prosecution had no objection to the defense request that Sudden Passion be included as part of the charge against Guyger. Texas law defines sudden passion as “passion directly caused by and arising out of provocation by the individual killed.”

If the jury accepts that Guyger’s actions were taken in the heat of the moment, it could reduce the sentencing range to two to 20 years.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/jury-sentences-amber-guyger-to-10-years-in-prison/ar-AAIcqZk?&ocid=spartanntp

[yardwork]

32. The jury rejected the "sudden passion" argument.

[dchill]

6. Travesty.

[iluvtennis]

44. +++ agree.

[evertonfc]

14. this judge

gave them every opportunity to let her off the hook from.the charges to the sentencing

[FailureToCommunicate]

38. Did the judge block the assertion that she was drunk?

I heard nothing about that from the proceedings.

[PoliticAverse]

45. No, the Judge removed potential appeal wins from the defense. n/t

[madinmaryland]

15. Hmmm. A cop who killed an African-American in prison. Wonder how it will go for her in

General population. She won’t have ANY friends there.

Mind you, that I am not wishing anything untoward happen to her in prison.

[virgogal]

19. She probably won't be put in gen-pop.

[iluvtennis]

22. +1

[IronLionZion]

16. Deathly afraid of a guy sitting on his couch eating ice cream

is completely in line with her history of racist texts and social media.


‘Not racist but …’: White police officer who killed innocent black man in his home sent offensive texts
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/10/02/amber-guyger-offensive-texts-botham-jean-murder/

[Totally Tunsie]

17. Sad day for Botham Jean's family.

It's injustices such as this that makes me wonder why immigrants are so hopeful to come here.

[GumboYaYa]

20. That seems like a reasonable sentence.

I am really surprised the jury convicted on a murder charge. Proving mens rea in this case is a challenge and from the limited evidence I heard it did not sound like the prosecution did that. I was expecting a conviction on the lesser included offense of manslaughter.

[Chemisse]

21. I expected manslaughter also - if convicted of anything - so am happy with the sentence.

I'm glad they did not go for the absolute minimum and discarded the passion defense.

[marybourg]

26. I expected manslaughter also.

and I think the sentence is consonant with that charge, rather than murder.

[yardwork]

34. The defense chose a different route. They asked for murder or acquittal.

Their strategy failed. And I think their "castle doctrine" argument backfired. Botham Jean was in his own home when a stranger barged in and shot him. Reminding the jurors of the castle doctrine was a stupid move for the defense.

[titaniumsalute]

23. Once released she'll be a Fox news correspondent

[sinkingfeeling]

28. Pathetic. Should have been a minimum of 25 years.

[Jake Stern]

35. Considering it's a White cop convicted of killing a Black man

10 years is a pretty good sentence. TBH I expected she'd get some sort of suspended sentence and community service.

Being a cop comes with some really good bennies: She gets 10 years for recklessly killing a man in his own home and a cop in Minnesota gets 12 years for recklessly killing the woman who had reported a crime.

The rest of us would be appealing a death sentence.

[captain queeg]

39. Any bets on the twitler weighing in on this?

Could probably score points with his base

[GulfCoast66]

41. Just making sure everyone knows who decided the sentence.

The jury.

Made up of 5 African Americans, 5 Hispanics or Asians and 2 white folks.

This is who your ire is directed at. They had total freedom to choose whatever penalty they wanted as long as it was allowed by law.

Personally, I did not listen to the testimony. They did. The decision came back real fast so it would appear there was general agreement. I trust a jury that is so reflective of a community.

[Lokilooney]

43. I don't see why anyone is surprised by this

Had this been a case of she who was working on the job was called to an apartment complex because a report of a trespasser and then entered an apartment that was ajar and shot someone because "he was moving in an aggressive manor and I was in fear for my safety"...then yes at worst she wold end up leaving the service and working private sector security. But that's not the scenario, just because you are bacon on the clock doesn't mean it will save your bacon off the clock, she was toast from the start.

As for the sentence, it seems is line with what any run of the mill person would have gotten. She made a bad mistake that she will have to pay for. It's kind of like a drunk driver who kills someone, they may not have planned on doing what they did but they still made a poor choice that they are going to be held accountable for.

[JonLP24]

46. I'm not surprised at all because she is a cop

This is a little bit different then drunk driving. I would never enter another person's home to shoot them and if I did I would expect to receive more than 10 years especially since I live in a DP state.