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U.S. NEWS Thursday 10 OcTOber 2019
Evidence from ex-Dallas cop's

murder trial fuels mistrust

By JAKE BLEIBERG was prosecutors' "attempt
DALLAS (AP) — Evidence to slut shame her."
from the trial of a former Some Dallas residents'
Dallas police officer con- deep mistrust of their police
victed of killing her neigh- has been on display since
bor has fueled new ques- Guyger's trial ended.
tions about whether ac- The first meeting of a new
cused officers are treated Community Police Over-
differently than other sus- sight Committee ended
pects, including testimony with shoving and shout-
that a camera in the cruiser ing Tuesday night when
where the officer sat after the panel adjourned with-
the shooting was flipped out taking public com-
off and that her sexual text ment. Hall intervened and
messages with her partner opened the floor to discus-
were deleted. sion, much of it critical of
Even as Amber Guyger the department and mis- Holding a Bible given to her by State District Judge Tammy Kent,
begins her 10-year prison trustful of the committee's former Dallas Police Officer Amber Guyger leaves court for jail
sentence for murder in Bo- intensions. following her sentencing, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2019, in Dallas.
tham Jean's September And conspiracy theo- Associated Press
2018 death, testimony in ries have swirled around
her case has prompted the death of a witness in the investigating agency wrong by having it turned
demands for the head of a Guyger's trial, who was shot has been implicated in the off.
police union to step down. dead two days after her murder itself," Merritt said in "She was talking with her
It also has led Dallas Police sentencing. Investigators a Tuesday. "That implica- attorney, and that's attor-
Chief U. Reneé Hall to an- said Tuesday that the killing tion naturally stems from a ney-client privilege," Mata
nounce the internal affairs of Joshua Brown, who like trial where a Dallas police said. "(The lead prosecu-
department would look Jean was black, was unre- officer was convicted of tor) pushed this narrative
into the deleted texts and lated to his testimony and murder and other DPD of- to make it look like the de-
deactivated camera. The that they suspect three ficers were shown to have partment was corrupt and I
Dallas County District At- Louisiana men , who were participated in condem- was corrupt and unethical.
torney's Office declined to allegedly in Dallas to buy nable behavior in destroy- It's a win-at-all-costs type of
comment Wednesday on drugs. ing evidence and interfer- mentality."
whether it is also investigat- Lee Merritt, a lawyer who ing with an investigation." Dr. Brian Williams, the for-
ing. represents the Jean and Mata said the text mes- mer head of the Dallas' po-
Dallas Police Association Brown families, said he has sages were not related to lice oversight board, said
President Mike Mata said no reason to doubt Dallas the shooting and prosecu- the actions revealed at trial
Wednesday that he was detectives' conclusions. But tors only brought them up further eroded trust for po-
guarding Guyger's rights he's asking the department at Guyger's trial to put "the lice that already is thin in
when he had another offi- to turn the investigation of scarlet letter on her as a the community.
cer shut off the camera in Brown's death over to an- person involved in adul- "When you're working to try
a police car where Guyger other agency. tery." Rivera was married; to build trust things like that
waited after the shooting. "It will be nearly impossible Guyger was not. do not work to the advan-
Guyger and her partner, to conduct a reliable inves- As for the car camera, tage of bringing both par-
Martin Rivera, both ac- tigation in a climate where Mata said he did nothing ties together," he said.q
knowledged from the wit-
ness stand that they delet-
ed text messages following Police: Memory card depicts
Jean's death about their
on-and-off relationship. woman's killing, man in custody
Prosecutors managed to
recover the texts and ar-
gued that Guyger was By BECKY BOHRER ing to identify the woman with Smith from another
distracted by the explicit A man was in custody af- and her manner of death. investigation, Thim said,
messages she exchanged ter videos were found on Police said they obtained though he declined to pro-
with Rivera soon before a digital memory card de- a warrant for the arrest vide details. Court records
she walked into Jean's picting a woman being as- of Brian Steven Smith on did not list an attorney for
apartment, which she said saulted and killed, police in a murder charge and ar- Smith, who was scheduled
she thought was her own. Alaska said Wednesday. rested him Tuesday at an to be arraigned Wednes-
Guyger testified that she Anchorage police said a Anchorage airport. Police day afternoon. Thim said
mistook the 26-year-old ac- caller last week reported spokesman MJ Thim said police believe Smith re-
countant from the Carib- finding the card on a city Smith had been on a flight corded the events himself
bean island nation of St. street. Police believe hu- returning to Anchorage. He in an area hotel room. He
Lucia for an intruder before man remains found along a did not know where Smith's said there were "multiple"
shooting him. highway earlier this month flight had originated. pictures and videos on the
Raising the 31-year-old of- are those of the woman He said Smith, 48, lives in An- card. He said police be-
ficer's sexual text messages depicted in the videos. Au- chorage but is from South lieve the killing occurred in
with her partner, Mata said, thorities said they are work- Africa. Police were familiar early September.q