Lawyer: Firing of officer who killed neighbor is premature

DALLAS — The firing of a white Dallas police officer who is charged with manslaughter in the fatal shooting of her black neighbor inside his own apartment was premature and unfair, an attorney for the officer said.

Robert Rogers, who represents the former officer, Amber Guyger, said Monday night that Police Chief U. Renee Hall “bowed to pressure from anti-police groups and took action before all of the facts had been gathered and due process was afforded.”

“That’s not the way our system of justice should work,” Rogers said in his first statement since the shooting.

He called the Sept. 6 shooting that left 26-year-old Botham Jean dead “a tragic mistake” and said “words can never express our sorrow for the pain suffered by those who knew and loved” Jean. Rogers added that Guyger “is completely devastated by what happened.”

Court records show Guyger said she thought she had encountered a burglar inside her own home. She was arrested three days later and is currently out on bond.

Guyger’s firing came the same day that Jean was being buried in his Caribbean homeland, St. Lucia. Hall dismissed the four-year veteran of the force during a hearing Monday, according to the Police Department.

A statement from police said an internal investigation concluded that on Sept. 9, Guyger “engaged in adverse conduct when she was arrested for Manslaughter.” Dallas police spokesman Sgt. Warren Mitchell later said that when an officer has been arrested for a crime, “adverse conduct” is often cited in the officer’s termination.

Mitchell said adverse conduct is “conduct which adversely affects the (morale) or efficiency of the Department or which has a tendency to adversely affect, lower, destroy public respect and confidence in the Department or officer.”

The Jean family’s attorneys, along with protesters, had been calling for Guyger to be fired since the shooting. In a statement, the attorneys said the termination is an initial victory.

“However, we are committed to seeing through the next steps of the process of a proper murder indictment, conviction and appropriate sentencing,” they said in the statement.

Dallas County District Attorney Faith Johnson has said the case will be presented to a grand jury, which could decide a more serious charge than manslaughter.

During a conference call with Jean’s parents and their lawyers on Sunday, Hall reported she intended to fire Guyger and explained the delay in the action, according to the family’s attorneys in their statement.

There are conflicting narratives over what led up to the shooting.

Guyger told investigators that she had just ended a shift when she returned in uniform to the South Side Flats apartment complex where she lived.

She said when she put her key in the apartment door, which was unlocked and slightly ajar, it opened, according to the affidavit. Inside, the lights were off, and she saw a figure in the darkness that cast a large silhouette across the room, according to the officer’s account.