Courts

Amber Guyger Guilty Of Murder

Cop who shot man in his own home actually held accountable for said shooting.

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Amber Guyger (L), Botham Jean (R)

Former Dallas police officer Amber Guyger has been found guilty of the murder of Botham Jean.

I was really worried, you guys; I was really worried that cop + black victim + white tears = acquittal. I was worried that charging her with murder (which is what she did), as opposed to manslaughter (which is what white people would think she did) would doom the trial.

And yesterday, when the judge allowed the jury to consider castle doctrine, that would be the fence cutter needed to free her. The castle doctrine statute in Texas is broad. In Texas, you can use deadly force to defend your home, or business, or even your car. In Texas, you can use such deadly force even if your victim is on your property legally — if you reasonably believe that your victim is on your property illegally.

Guyger’s attorneys argued that Guyger reasonably believed she was in her own apartment when she shot Botham Jean. But she wasn’t in her apartment. She was in HIS apartment. Guyger went into a black man’s apartment and shot him to death, while he was watching TV and eating ice cream, and claimed that the shooting was justified because she thought she owned the place.

Testifying in her own defense last week, Guyger told jurors that she was scared for her life when she entered an apartment that she thought was hers and the man inside began coming toward her and yelling, “Hey! Hey! Hey!”

And I thought they were going to let her walk. I thought shouting “hey” while black when a white person invades your house was going to be a capital offense.

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But, the jury didn’t let her walk.

And they didn’t fall for the overcharge okey-doke. The difference between murder and manslaughter (in Texas and pretty much every where else) is intent. Murder is when you mean to kill somebody; manslaughter is when you mean to do a thing that happens to kill somebody. Many argued that Guyger lacked the requisite intent to sustain a murder charge. There was no evidence that Guyger sat in her car and thought, “You know what, I’m going to go upstairs and kill my neighbor,” before she did just that.

I never saw this as a manslaughter case. First, I never bought that she was accidentally in the wrong apartment. That’s not really a thing that happens. I’ve been all kinds of drunk, but I’ve never just waltzed into somebody else’s apartment. And I promise you that if I was so drunk or addled to do such a thing, I would not have the wherewithal to deposit two gun shots into somebody’s chest.

Even beyond the wrong apartment farce, forensics showed that Jean was sitting or just getting up when he was shot. If you walk into “your” apartment, and you see a man eating ice cream and watching TV on the couch, AND you somehow don’t notice that it is NOT YOUR television or couch or ice cream, BUT the brother is still sitting down, you have a moment to “meditate” on your surroundings. If your next choice is to pull our your gun and start firing, you have “pre”-mediated the decision to kill that man. That is murder.

I’m shocked, and gladdened, that a jury of Texans saw things my way, and the prosecution’s way. I’d like to think that maybe they were actually able to put themselves in the position of Botham Jean, instead of putting themselves in the position of his cop assailant.

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I’m very happy I don’t have to fly to Texas to protest now.

Amber Guyger found guilty of murder at trial in fatal shooting of neighbor Botham Jean [NBC]

Elie Mystal is the Executive Editor of Above the Law and a contributor at The Nation. He can be reached @ElieNYC on Twitter, or at elie@abovethelaw.com. He will resist.

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