Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Officer’s sentence 10 years in slaying
Harding alum’s sibling hugs killer
DALLAS — A Dallas County jury sentenced Amber Guyger to 10 years in prison after convicting the former police officer of murdering her upstairs neighbor Botham Jean in his apartment last year.
Guyger, 31, had faced between five and 99 years or life in prison for fatally shooting Jean, a 26-year-old certified public accountant who had graduated from Harding University in Searcy.
Brandt Jean, Botham’s teenage brother, took a moment after the sentence was announced to speak directly to Guyger.
“If you truly are sorry, I know I can speak for myself, I forgive you,” he said.
Brandt Jean said he wanted for Guyger what his brother would have wanted.
“I think giving your life to Christ would be the best thing that Botham would want for you,” he told her. “I love you as a person, and I don’t wish anything bad on you.”
“Can I give her a hug, please?” Brandt Jean asked. “Please.”
As soon as he got the OK, Guyger rushed to Brandt Jean and wrapped
her arms around him, holding him in a long embrace. Sobbing could be heard in the courtroom.
Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot, a former trial judge, called Brandt Jean’s embrace of Guyger “an amazing act of healing and forgiveness that is rare in today’s society … especially for many of our leaders.”
Creuzot told reporters that if Botham Jean’s 18-year-old brother “can heal and express healing in that fashion, in his words and in his deeds, I would hope that the greater community — not just Dallas but all of Texas and all of the United States — could gain a message from that.”
News of the sentence prompted chants of “No justice, no peace” in the hallway outside the courtroom.
Dee Crane, the mother of Tavis Crane, a young black man shot by an Arlington police officer in 2017, cried as she asked: “How many of us does it take to get justice?”
“What about my son? What about Botham Jean?” Crane said through tears. “How many of us is it going to take before you understand that our lives matter?”
Activist Dominique Alexander said the 10-year sentence was insufficient. He called on the community to attend a protest outside the courthouse Wednesday evening.
The shooting and the trial drew national attention because of circumstances surrounding Jean’s death, and because it was one in a series of shootings of unarmed black men by white police officers.
Wednesday’s protest came a day after Jean’s family and activists in Dallas — a diverse city where the mayor, police chief and district attorney are all black — rejoiced over the guilty verdict, calling it a hopeful sign of turning tides on police accountability in the deaths of unarmed black men.
Allison Jean, Botham’s mother, said Wednesday that the sentence was a decade for Guyger to change her life. Then Jean criticized Dallas and what she characterized as police corruption and incompetence.
“If Amber Guyger was trained to not shoot in the heart, my son would be standing here today,” Allison Jean said.
Before they delivered their decision, jurors heard tearful testimony during the sentencing phase of the trial from people who knew Botham Jean best.
His father, Bertrum Jean, told the jury that he longed to see his oldest son again, and while every day is a struggle, Sundays are especially hard for the devout St. Lucians.
“How could it be possible?” he continued, shaking his head and dabbing at his eyes with a white handkerchief. “I’ll never see him again.”
Bertrum Jean, who lives in the family’s native St. Lucia, would wait on Sundays for his son to get home from his worship service in Dallas so they could talk about what happened in church. Botham would send his father photos of whatever he was cooking that day.
He said he still can’t watch videos of his son singing.
“I’m still not ready for it,” he said. “It hurts me that he’s not there.”
Prosecutor LaQuita Long displayed a photo of Bertrum and Allison Jean at their son’s funeral. She asked what was going through Bertrum’s mind when the photo was taken.
“How could that happen to us, our family?” he replied through tears. “How could we have lost Botham — such a sweet boy. He tried his best to live a good, honest life. He loved God. He loved everyone. How could this happen to him?”
A juror wiped away tears with the collar of her denim jacket when Bertrum Jean broke down on the witness stand. Then other jurors began to wipe their eyes. When Bertrum Jean returned to sit in the gallery, his son Brandt put his arm around him.
Testimony continued through the morning, with family members and friends talking about Botham Jean and Guyger in the happier years that preceded the tragic circumstances of September last year.
Guyger was off duty but still in her Dallas police uniform when she shot Jean. She testified that she mistook Jean’s apartment for hers and thought he was a burglar.
In closing arguments, Long urged the jury to think about Jean’s family and loved ones as they deliberated Guyger’s punishment. She urged them to give Guyger no less than a 28-year sentence.
Jean would have celebrated his 28th birthday Sunday, she said. Long wore Jean’s favorite color — red — on her earrings and a matching necklace as she spoke to jurors, clutching a photo taken at Jean’s burial in St. Lucia.
Long told the jury that sudden passion — which the defense did not mention during closing arguments — did not apply in the case, because Jean did not provoke his own death.
“The only reason we all sit in this courtroom today is because of her actions,” Long said. “And for her actions, there must be consequences.”
In his closing arguments, Guyger’s attorney Toby Shook pleaded with the jury to be lenient. He recognized Guyger’s social media posts and race-tinged text messages, but called them just a “snapshot” of his client’s life.
Guyger’s true character was apparent through her relationship with friends and family members, Shook argued.
He also recognized the recent history of other high-profile police shootings and asked the jury not to punish his client for shootings other officers have committed, saying this case was not those cases.
“This event wasn’t planned,” Shook said. “This event is so unique, you’ll never see it again in the history of the United States.”
Shook noted the spectrum of punishment for a murder charge and said lengthier punishments should be reserved for dangerous criminals, not people who have made mistakes.
“Amber Guyger has a conscience. She’s shown true remorse,” Shook said. “She feels horrible for what she did, and for the rest of her life, every day, every hour, every minute, she’ll think of what she did to Botham Jean and regret it in every bit of her soul.”
The jury delivered its verdict Tuesday after deliberating for five hours.