Ex-officer appeals conviction in case of Jean murder

DALLAS — Amber Guyger’s defense team filed an appeal last week to overturn her 2019 murder conviction and instead convict her of criminally negligent homicide, citing insufficient evidence.

Guyger is serving a 10-year sentence in a Texas prison for shooting and killing 26-yearold Botham Jean on Sept. 6, 2018, in his apartment at the South Side Flats near Dallas Police Department headquarters.

At the time, Guyger was a Dallas police officer, but she was fired after the shooting.

Jean, a graduate of Harding University in Searcy, was an accountant at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Dallas.

Guyger testified at her trial last year that she mistook Jean’s apartment for her own and shot him because she wrongly thought he was an intruder.

Guyger, who was off-duty but in her police uniform at the time, said she feared for her life when she shot Jean with her service weapon. Jean, an accountant from St. Lucia, was eating ice cream on his couch when Guyger entered his apartment.

Prosecutors and Guyger’s defense team could not immediately be reached for comment Friday.

Guyger’s team argued in a brief filed Tuesday that while she did knowingly shoot with the intention of killing Jean, her belief that he was an intruder justified her use of deadly force.

“The evidence was legally insufficient to prove beyond reasonable doubt that Guyger committed murder because (1) through mistake, Guyger formed a reasonable belief about a matter of fact — that she entered her apartment and there was an intruder inside — and (2) her mistaken belief negated the culpability of murder because although she intentionally and knowingly caused Jean’s death, she had the right to act in deadly force in self defense since her belief that deadly force was immediately necessary was reasonable under the circumstances,” court documents read.

In October, the jury rejected the idea that Texas’ Castle Doctrine applied to Guyger. The Castle Doctrine allows residents to defend their lives and property with deadly force, but it applies only if a jury believes the person’s actions were “reasonable.” The definition of “reasonable” is determined by each individual juror.

Guyger’s defense team has previously argued that the confusing layout of the upper floors at the apartment complex contributed to the situation that led to Jean’s death. Guyger lived on the fourth floor, and Jean lived directly below her.

In the appeal, Guyger’s defense team mentions that residents of her complex often walk into or enter the wrong apartment or park on the wrong floor. Several residents also testified about this at her trial.

Of 71 tenants interviewed, 44% said they had walked into the wrong apartment on the wrong floor before, court documents state.

Twenty-three percent of tenants said they had accidentally gone to the wrong door and entered their key into the lock, according to court documents.

Criminally negligent homicide is a state jail felony punishable by up to two years behind bars. Murder is punishable by five years to life in prison.

The defense team also asked for oral arguments before the appellate court.