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U.S. NEWS Thursday 3 OcTOber 2019
Dallas cop gets 10 years in prison for killing her neighbor

By JAKE BLEIBERG a long shift that night, en-
Associated Press tered Jean’s fourth-floor
DALLAS (AP) — A white apartment and shot him.
Dallas police officer was He had been eating a
sentenced Wednesday to bowl of ice cream before
10 years in prison for killing she fired.
her black neighbor in his Guyger said she parked on
apartment, which she said the wrong floor and mis-
she mistook for her own unit took Jean’s apartment for
one floor below. her own, which was directly
Amber Guyger didn’t ap- below his, and mistook him
pear to show much reac- for a burglar. In the frantic
tion, at least from the angle 911 call played repeatedly
of a live camera stream, as during the trial, Guyger said
the judge read the jury’s "I thought it was my apart-
sentence. It came a day ment" nearly 20 times. Her
after the jury convicted her lawyers argued that the
of murder in the September identical physical appear-
2018 killing of Botham Jean. ance of the apartment
Guyger’s sentence was complex from floor to floor
met with boos and jeers by frequently led to tenants
a crowd gathered outside going to the wrong apart-
of the courtroom, with one ments.
woman saying, “It’s a slap But prosecutors questioned
in the face.” how Guyger could have
But there was a very dif- missed numerous signs
ferent tenor to the post- that she was in the wrong Fired Dallas police officer Amber Guyger listens as friends, family and coworkers speak in her de-
verdict scene inside the place. They also asked why fense during the sentencing phase of her murder trial, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2019, in Dallas.
courtroom, where Jean’s she didn’t call for backup Associated Press
brother, Brandt Jean, was instead of walking into the
allowed to address Guyger apartment if she thought
directly from the witness she was being burglarized
stand. and suggested she was dis-
Brandt Jean said he for- tracted by sexually explicit
gave Guyger and that he phone messages she had
thinks his brother would been exchanging with her
want her to turn herself police partner, who was
over to Christ. also her lover.
“I love you as a person. I The shooting drew wide-
don’t wish anything bad spread attention because
on you,” he said to the of the strange circum-
31-year-old Guyger, before stances and because it
adding, “I don’t know if this was one in a string of shoot-
is possible, but can I give ings of unarmed black men
her a hug?” by white police officers.
The judge said he could, One of the Jean family law-
and Brandt and Guyger yers hailed the verdict as "a
both stood up, met in victory for black people in
front of the bench and America" after it was hand-
embraced while Guyger ed down Tuesday.
sobbed. The jury was largely made
As Jean’s family walked up of women and people
out of the courtroom, the of color.q
group that had been out-
side began a chant of,
“No justice! No peace!”
Two young black women
hugged each other and
cried.
Prosecutors had asked ju-
rors to sentence Guyger to
at least 28 years, which is
how old Jean would have
been if he was still alive.
The jury could have sen-
tenced the former officer
to up to life in prison or as
little as two years.
The basic facts of the un-
usual shooting were not
in dispute throughout the
trial. Guyger, returning from