Posted on 09/30/2019 2:13:43 PM PDT by Presbyterian Reporter
Ex-Dallas police Officer Amber Guyger was "unreasonable" when she mistakenly entered her neighbor's apartment "commando-style" last year and fatally shot him, thinking he was an intruder, prosecutors said Monday during closing arguments in her murder trial.
"A guilty verdict in this case does not mean you hate police. This has nothing to do with politics," prosecutor Jason Fine told the jurors.
But the defense argued to jurors that at that moment, Guyger truly believed she was acting in self-defense when she thought she was at her apartment, which is one floor directly below that of neighbor Botham Jean.
"It's one of those cases where there are no winners," defense attorney Toby Shook told jurors. "The evidence shows it's just a tragedy. A horrible, horrible tragedy."
The dueling arguments followed state District Judge Tammy Kemp instructing the jury that they can consider a charge of either murder or manslaughter after Guyger fatally shot Jean on Sept. 6, 2018. Jurors began deliberations Monday afternoon.
For jurors to find Guyger, 31, guilty of murder, the state must have proved that she "intentionally or knowingly" caused the death of Jean. The lesser charge of manslaughter requires jurors found she "recklessly" caused his death.
Kemp also said jurors can consider Texas' stand your ground law, known as the Castle Doctrine, to decide whether Guyger was within her rights to use force. The law says that force, including deadly force, can be used to protect one's home or property.
Fine said it was "absurd" for Guyger to think she could use that defense since it wasn't actually her home.
"This has to do with that defendant making unreasonable decisions that put her in that seat," Fine said, pointing toward Guyger, "and Bo in the ground."
Closing arguments began on day seven of Guyger's trial in a case that reignited conversations about police use of force, racial bias and being safe in one's own home. The defense has argued that Guyger, who is white, feared for her life when she entered the apartment of Jean, who was black, and saw a person she thought was an intruder.
Shook, in his closing statements, called the case "tragic," and asked, "Who would not have sympathy for Botham Jean?" But he also asked jurors to look at the evidence without emotion.
The state, he said, "must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant wasn't acting in self-defense. And if they can't do that, it's not guilty."
How did she miss it?
It's been reported she was sexting her boyfriend at the time.
Wrong floor. Wrong apartment. Red rug in front of the wrong door.
A person this distracted and without situational awareness should not be carrying a gun.
I wouldn’t bet against you.
Off topic. Not so much a threat as a promise...
One does not always follow the other. But it should.
Deliberations are done for the. Back again tomorrow.
And there’s a bright red floor mat outside the door. Hello!
Some form of Manslaughter.
“””She wanted it both ways. Says she drew her gun because of police training. Did not follow her police training to call for back up”””
Yup. In April 2018 she had attended an all day class on how cops de-escalate any situation.
Five months later she enters the wrong apartment and immediately double-taps the legal occupant.
Instead of remembering her police training, Amber’s mind will filled with how she was going to make whoopee with her police lover that night.
Even two days after she killed the victim, she was still sexting with her police lover.
Amber is one bad dude.
Hopefully, she will be locked up for many years. She is dangerous.
The jury will "truly believe" she's responsible for her actions. Manslaughter.
“””She was likely either tired or drunk or both and went in the apartment.”””
She was not drunk.
She was not tired. Even though she had been on duty from 8am to 9pm, she had spent the entire day sitting on her butt at the police station supposedly guarding some drug dealers as they were being processed.
If you count all of the sexting that was going on between her and her police lover that day as tiring, then Amber was really tired!!!!!
I sure hope she gets life.
In general population.
She shot an unarmed man sitting on his couch.
______________________________________________
Actually, No. Forensics proved that he got off the couch to confront her entering his apartment. He was immediately shot.
FWIW
I cant see how this is not manslaughter, its impossible to see her having prior intent. I assume there was no testimony about them having an affair or really any established relationship .
“””I cant see how this is not manslaughter, its impossible to see her having prior intent.”””
She intended to kill him when she double-tapped the victim.
She testified to that intent.
She acted unreasonably on many instances when she entered the apartment and immediately shot the victim.
The above are the arguments by the prosecutor in his closing statements.
‘Sentencing will be 5 years. Out in 2.’
chick privilege; probation (though the victim was black; might ‘color’ the situation somewhat...
I don't know enough of the details to make a decision about intent. I agree she didn't have intent when she opened the door to the wrong apartment and saw someone sitting on the couch.
But intent can be formed within a matter of seconds. For example, two guys get in a fight and ends up on the ground. The guy standing pulls out a gun and aims it at the guy on the floor. He lowers his arm and a couple of seconds later shoots the guy. It's now first degree murder. If he had shot immediately, it likely would have been charged as manslaughter. This was an actual case and there are many others where individuals didn't go somewhere with the intention of killing, but had the time to make the decision.
If I were on the jury, I would hold this (police)woman to a higher standard than I would someone without training. The guy didn't have a weapon. She had options. It's really hard to understand how she missed all the cues that it wasn't her apartment. I once got into a car that wasn't mine in the parking lot of the post office. Same make, same model, same upholstery. I sat down and immediately knew something wasn't right - those weren't my sunglasses on the dash - and hopped right out.
“””If I were on the jury, I would hold this (police)woman to a higher standard than I would someone without training.”””
In April 2018 she was trained on how cops should de-escalate any situation. In September 2018 she immediately shoots what she thought was an intruder.
When she was cross-examined by the prosecutor regarding the de-escalation training in April 2018, she pleaded that she could not remember any of it.
Yes, she was trained in so many areas that would have prevented the victim from being shot. And she did not follow that training.
Nonsense. We were instructed twice daily (before lunch and at close of day) to not talk about the case, but your statement is rediculous. We were even put up two to a room in a motel except for one odd male and one odd female. No newspapers, no phones in rooms (pre-cell phones) and TVs were disabled. Any phone calls were made from the hallway with a court officer present.
“If I were on the jury, I would hold this (police)woman to a higher standard than I would someone without training.”
That’s a very good point. I do agree and it’s not unreasonable to expect that of someone with professional training. But, this is an angle that I have not considered enough. And that was a good argument about having time to form intent, and that makes me think again too.
Was the guy really sitting on the couch? I did not know that, of course he probably would have stood up when the door opened, but it would have been apparent that he’d just been sitting.
Yeah, this dame effed about about as much as it’s possible to do. Thanks for your post, it really made me think more closely. This is why FR is the best!
This situation has actually happened in Texas a few times over the past several years. There is a strong trend of grand juries voting to not indict. No-knock raids are very dangerous to the lives of cops, even if they yell out "Police". How is the resident to know it's not just an armed robber yelling those words. If I was a cop tasked to go on a no-Knock raid, my response would be, "Thanks, but no thanks. We can take him down when is is out in public when we can control all the circumstances."
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