Dallas jury to decide fate of ex-officer

Calm urged as trial wraps up in Harding graduate’s killing in his apartment

DALLAS — The fate of Amber Guyger is in jurors’ hands.

Guyger, a 31-year-old former Dallas police officer, is charged in the shooting death of 26-year-old Botham Jean, a Harding University graduate. Guyger, who is white, has said she mistook Jean’s apartment for her own on the night of Sept. 6, 2018, and fatally shot Jean, who is black, thinking he was a burglar.

The shooting and trial have attracted national scrutiny for the strange circumstances surrounding Jean’s death and because it was one in a series of shootings of unarmed black men by white police officers.

During closing arguments Monday, Guyger’s defense said “a series of horrible mistakes” led to her shooting Jean out of fear for her life.

But prosecutors said arguments of self-defense don’t apply in Guyger’s case because Jean was not a threat. They said that Guyger had other options besides killing him and that she acted unreasonably by failing to notice she wasn’t at her own apartment.

The jury began deliberating Monday afternoon, after closing arguments. They retired for the day just after 5 p.m. and will resume deliberations this morning to decide whether Guyger is guilty or innocent of murder or manslaughter.

Prosecutor Jason Fine began the state’s closing arguments by reading something Guyger said during her testimony: “I never want anybody to have to go through or even imagine going through what I felt that night.”

“Are you kidding me?” Fine said, crumpling up the paper. “That is garbage.”

He urged the jury to think from Jean’s perspective — for them to imagine coming home from a long day and sitting down with a bowl of ice cream when they’re shot by an intruder.

He said Guyger missed five key clues when she was standing at Jean’s door: the apartment sign, his red door mat, the blinking red light signaling her key wasn’t recognized, the lack of a whirring motor sound from the key and the feeling of walking from concrete onto carpet.

“I mean, my God, this is crazy,” Fine said. “It was unreasonable. She should’ve known she was in the wrong apartment.”

A juror smiled slightly as Fine spoke incredulously about how Guyger’s senses failed her that night. Fine said Guyger decided before she went inside Jean’s apartment that she would “execute” whatever was in there. Had Guyger retreated, Fine said, Jean would still be alive.

Guyger’s parents and sister were in the courtroom for the first time Monday. When Fine told the jury that “nobody had to die” that night and that Guyger acted unreasonably, causing Jean’s death, Guyger’s mother looked down.

Fine implored the jury to “do the right thing,” telling them they are the voice of the community.

“I believe that y’all will do the right thing, that y’all will follow your oath, that y’all will follow the law, apply it to these facts, and render the only, only true verdict, the only just verdict,” Fine said, “and that is that this defendant murdered an innocent young man in his home.”

Defense attorney Toby Shook told the jury they could not decide whether Guyger is guilty based on “emotion and sympathy.”

“That’s hard, especially in a case like this,” he said. “You’ll never see a case like this that’s so tragic. So tragic.”

He told them they had to look at the case “coolly and calmly.”

Shook pointed to prosecutors’ suggestion that Guyger didn’t do enough to save Jean, saying it was designed to get the jury angry and emotional. He said the “hard truth” was that no amount of first-aid or proper CPR would have saved Jean.

“He couldn’t survive because of the wound he received,” Shook said. “CPR wasn’t going to help.”

Then, he pointed to two texts Guyger sent to her partner, Martin Rivera, while she was still on the phone with 911.

“You can hate her for sending that text. You can be angry with her. You can hate her, but you can’t convict her” based on emotion, Shook said.

He said Guyger “made a series of horrible mistakes” the night she killed Jean.

Robert Rogers, another of Guyger’s defense attorneys, said the prosecution failed to “do their duty” and show that Guyger wasn’t reasonable in her actions.

“We actually, even though we have no duty, we showed you how this was a reasonable mistake,” he said.

“The state, what did they bring you? Sexting and speculation,” Rogers said. “Everything that they have done has been to try to distract you and trick you from looking at the law in this case because they know that if you apply it correctly, that Amber Guyger is not guilty.”

In his rebuttal, lead prosecutor Jason Hermus said the defense’s argument of self-defense doesn’t apply in this case, and said Guyger had other options available when she thought she was at her apartment, confronted by a burglar.

Hermus pointed out Guyger is trained to get in a position of concealment and cover in such situations. The former officer could’ve called for assistance, but Hermus argued she made the decision to kill from outside Jean’s door.

“She decided from outside, from a position of safety, that she was going to engage what she called ‘the threat,’” Hermus said.

Hermus said Guyger acted unreasonably during the shooting, particularly by missing several details that a trained officer should have noticed. He held up Jean’s signature red doormat and told the jury she failed to notice it.

“You can’t miss this,” Hermus said. “And she walked up to it and stood on top of it.”

In his final remarks, he spoke directly to Guyger.

“By God, in Dallas County, Texas,” Hermus said, “there will be a consequence for you shooting an unarmed, defenseless man.”

After the jury left the courtroom, Hermus walked over to Allison Jean, embracing her and kissing her cheek.

She and her husband looked straight ahead as they watched the attorneys make closing arguments. They looked down when photos of first responders trying to save Jean’s life filled the large screens in the courtroom.

But afterward, by the elevators, she looked like she could barely contain her emotions as her face crumpled while family and attorneys comforted her.

Dallas area church leaders have called for nonviolence pending a jury’s verdict.

Church leaders asked for people to honor “the spirit of Botham,” even if the jury finds Guyger innocent.

“Botham was a peaceful person, he was not a person of violence,” said Jonathan Morrison, a senior minister at the Cedar Crest Church of Christ. “What we were trying to convey is the fact that it is understandable and perfectly OK for a person to be angry or upset — to be outraged even. But even in our rage, even in our frustration, we need to again honor Botham through responding in the spirit of which he would respond.”

Morrison also read a statement sent on behalf of the Dallas Area Preachers and Church Leaders group at the courthouse ahead of the verdict.

“We recognize that there are several sides to every story,” he said. “We know the outcome, like these sides, may not be what Botham Jean’s family wants. What we want. But what we also want going forward is Botham’s non-violent spirit to prevail.”

After Jean’s shooting in September 2018, hundreds of people protested in Dallas. Morrison said people may protest again if Guyger is not found guilty because the case is reminiscent of other police officers who shot and killed unarmed black men.

“We understand every set of circumstances are different, and circumstances surrounding this case are definitely unique, but it’s reminiscent of what we’ve experienced and seen so many times, particular in the African-American community,” he said.

Jean’s family, as well as the Dallas Area Preachers and Church Leaders, are hoping the jury finds Guyger guilty of murder, Morrison said.