Amber Guyger has been found guilty of murder and she is facing up to 99 years in prison. The former police officer is the first Dallas cop to be convicted of murder since the 1970s. She shot and killed Botham Jean, a 26-year-old unarmed Black man, in his own home last year while he was eating ice cream and watching television.
During the sentencing phase of the case following the reading of the verdict on Tuesday, Guyger’s past was revealed even more, further showing that she wasn’t the fatigued angel she tried to portray herself as on the stand.
Local Dallas reported Jobin Panicker tweeted that the prosecution wanted to include her previous application to be a police officer in Fort Worth, Texas. She was allegedly not hired because she failed a polygraph test and admitted to smoking marijuana.
The marijuana claim is particularly important because shortly after the funeral for after the 26-year-old, one of the warrants became a public record and said a small amount of marijuana was found in his home, according to Fox 5.
Jean’s mother, Allison spoke out, saying, “The information received yesterday is, to me, worse than the call that I got on the morning of Friday, Sept. 7. To have my son smeared in such a way, I think shows that the persons who are really nasty, who are really dirty and are going to cover up for the devil, Amber Guyger.”
Furthermore, Guyger’s apartment was never searched by police despite five warrants. Was Amber Guyger smoking weed or other drugs we’ll never know. Plus, knowing that she failed a lie detector test to become a police officer, who knows how much she may have lied when she was fighting for her freedom on the stand.
Guyger also made a bizarre joke about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. being dead.
It took the jury fewer than 24 hours to return its verdict. WFAA reported on live TV that there were tears of joy for Jean’s family and tears of agony for Guyger, who was ultimately taken from the courtroom in handcuffs and spent her first of many nights behind bars Tuesday. It was unclear when she would be sentenced. There were reportedly cheers that broke out in the courtroom as well as the courthouse after the verdict was delivered. Several people were seen flying the national flag of St. Lucia, where Jean and his family are from.
On Sept. 6, 2018, Guyger said that following a long day on the job as a Dallas police officer, she implausibly mistook his apartment for her own and, after ordering Jean not to move, shot him twice before realizing the error of her ways. Her story was met with doubt because of a number of factors, especially her assertion that Jean’s door was ajar. Videos posted on social media by neighbors appeared to show that apartment doors in the building shut automatically, which seemed to indicate that Guyger was lying.
She also admitted under aggressive questioning that she never once said during the 911 call that she was scared or that she thought he had a gun. She also admitted that she never said during the call that Jean was charging at her.
See the video below of Judge Tammy Kemp reading the verdict:
Guyger is officially in police custody.
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