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."
Murder does require premeditation. Texas law is clear here.
Manslaughter is what happened here.
Just like the jury let OJ walk - this jury had it in for a white woman cop.
“Murder does require premeditation. Texas law is clear here.’
IT DOES NOT REQUIRE PREMEDITATION!
https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/PE/htm/PE.19.htm
Blah blah blah... you’re taking me out of context.
Thanks for the link. It proves my point.
A Murder Charge requires INTENT.
Guyger did not go home that night intending to kill her neighbor.
“Thanks for the link. It proves my point.
A Murder Charge requires INTENT.”
DUDE, you posted ‘premeditation’. Do you know the difference between premeditation and intent?
“Guyger did not go home that night intending to kill her neighbor.”
When she fired her gun it was with the intent to kill him.
she killed someone.....she did not murder...
The problem is she testified she intended to kill him. There is no way to find manslaughter.
She was on drugs
I didn’t know that but, all due respect, I don’t think this “murder” charge is going to stand up on appeal. This was clearly not murder at least as I’ve always understood it. On it’s face this was CLEARLY a mistake on her part as she did not INTEND to go home that day, go in the wrong apartment and kill somebody.
We will see. That said, I think she definitely is guilty of manslaughter and deserves to go to prison. A man is dead and she killed him. I just don’t get “murder”.
I thought that as well, until I spent some time reading the Texas statute. I'm not a Texas lawyer, and I never practiced criminal law in Texas so the statutes on homicide were a bit different than I expected.
My bet it 30 years.
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