Posted on 10/02/2019 9:33:26 AM PDT by Navy Patriot
A former police officer who argued she had a right to use lethal force when she killed an innocent man after mistakenly entering his apartment has been convicted of murder.
Amber Guyger faces a lengthy prison sentence after a jury found her guilty of the murder of Botham Jean in Dallas on 6 September last year – a verdict Jean family attorneys hailed as a significant moment in the battle to hold police accountable.
Guyger is white. Jean was black. Guyger is the first Dallas police department officer to be convicted of murder since the 1970s, the Dallas Morning News reported.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
In Texas it's know as criminal trespass, though a case can be made for burglary.
The woman shot an innocent man, and she needs to go to prison, but the larger system of justice isn't served by making claims of charges that aren't supportable by the evidence.
Police shoot innocent people all the time and they don't go to prison. Why should she?
The killing was accidental, not deliberate, and by "not deliberate" I mean with no criminal intent motivating her.
If her gun fell out of her holster, went off, and the bullet went through the wall and killed the man then that's accidental. Drawing her pistol, aiming, and firing was deliberate.
Make sure you tell them that during jury selection. You won't have to worry about spending a day in court.
Yes it did. A jury also let Casey Anthony off.
But nobody even alleged, as far as I know, that she intentionally entered someone else's apartment and killed them. She entered by error.
The crime involves whether she should have shot him even if she legitimately believed he was an intruder in her own apartment. Based on what I know her shooting didn't seem justified, but it's hard to see how it is murder instead of manslaughter.
On her phone sexting during the time she was walking to the door and probably right up to the point where she noticed a strange man where she did not expect him to be.
I don't know if you are familiar with young people texting, but they are oblivious to everything around them except their stupid phones. I suspect "sexting" is even more obsessive, because you are expecting to get sex out of it.
Well Comey would have let her off. Remember it’s the intent. And no one believes she went into his room with the intent to kill him. One justice system for democrats and a different justice system for the rest of us.
I've never been involved in law enforcement, but i've seen enough criminally minded people that I wouldn't want to have to deal with them on a confrontational basis.
I think a lot of people will tend to turn into trigger happy jerks if they confront enough bad apples on a daily basis. There are some cops that weren't trigger happy jerks, and as a result, they got killed, so this tends to reinforce the idea among the cops that being a trigger happy jerk will increase your probability of living.
“She entered by error.”
If we bought that excuse, every burglary suspect in the state would say. “I thought it was my house.”
And you would believe them.
That's part of the problem … lack of consequences for criminal conduct by our public SERVANTS.
What, you mean when she was texting sexy messages to her married partner that she was horny and wanted touched later? Shows just how stupid she is.
She had to stop on the mat to enter the door. Who doesn’t feel they’re stepping on something that shouldn’t be at their door? She also failed to notice she didn’t have to walk around a big planter that was on her floor but not his.
She claims the door wasn’t properly closed so she drew her weapon. Right there is where she, especially a cop, should have looked up from texting and looked around for anyone lurking in the hall. Why didn’t she text the manager or call for police back up IF the door wasn’t properly closed? It’s only her word the door wasn’t closed properly at the particular time. The cops trying the door at a later time doesn’t mean beans. Odd the guy wouldn’t have put a chair against the door if that were the case. Did he ever report the door to maintenance?
Another glaring problem is from the dead body’s position, she never, in her best cop voice, ordered the “intruder” to stand up and put his hands in the air. She also didn’t do CPR or anything but let him bleed out. He was still alive, barely, when the other officers showed up.
Texas has no law called "breaking and entering". There is criminal trespass: a person who willingly enters a property which belongs to someone else without the consent of the owner even though they know that entry is forbidden may be charged with criminal trespass. There is also burglary: a person who willingly enters a property belonging to someone else without the consent of the owner and commits or attempts to commit a felony, theft, or an assault can be charged with burglary. Killing someone while committing a felony is murder. At least in Texas.
The idea that you would charge everyone who accidentally opens a door, which they shouldn't have opened, with a felony crime is ridiculous. The definition of "breaking and entering" cannot be defined by the mere action of entering. It must be defined by the purpose for which someone enters.
If there is no criminal intent, there is no crime.
I disagree with that.
The wrong person died in that apartment.
And a distressing number of people around here think that should continue in this case.
Yes, that’s intent. Add in the fact she never administered CPR and he was still just barely alive when the other cops showed up. They did CPR. No excuse she shouldn’t have. She watched him bleed out and purposefully did nothing.
What I wonder is why her key worked on his door.
There's a former police officer in Minneapolis heading for prison because he panicked and shot an unarmed woman. There was no criminal intent in that case, should the police officer had gotten off without charges?
If she had given such an "order" to the tenant of that apartment, if would have been an unlawful order and could justifiably have been answered with deadly force.
Yes … very distressing.
While believing you are at your apartment, as you expect to have to turn the key the door swings open, is it possible for multiple thoughts to occur to you? such as:
Geeze! My door is broken!
Geeze! My door has been jimmied! Someone has broken in!
Geeze! Something is wrong and I don't know what it is!
Would you be more inclined to believe your apartment had been broken into if you dealt with things being broken into on a daily or weekly basis?
I think past experience informs subsequent reactions to events.
They will sue the city because they want to and the numerous Jessie Jackson imitators here tell them to. Have you folks never had a White cop kill a Black person in your town? The radio says we have over a million visitors here in Dallas right now and I suspect not all of them are here for the state fair.
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