Published 17:31 IST, September 23rd 2019
US: Trial begins for ex-Dallas cop who shot neighbor in his home
Opening statements are set to begin Monday in the murder trial of a white police officer accused of shooting her black neighbor in his Dallas apartment.
Opening statements are set to begin Monday in the murder trial of a white police officer accused of shooting her black neighbor in his Dallas apartment. Amber Guyger, 31, is expected in a city courthouse Monday morning, where she will stand trial for the fatal shooting of 26-year-old Botham Jean last year. The case has attracted intense national scrutiny for its strange circumstances and as one in a chain of shootings of black men by white police officers.
A mistaken belief
Lawyers for Guyger are likely to argue she fired in self-defense based on the mistaken belief that she was in her own apartment and that Jean, an accountant from the Caribbean island nation of St. Lucia, was a burglar.
The case may hang on whether the jury believes that this was a reasonable mistake, according to legal experts. Twelve jurors and four alternatives were selected to hear the case earlier this month, but their demographics aren’t yet public.Guyger was off duty but still in uniform when she shot Jean in his home. She told investigators that after a 15-hour shift she parked on the fourth floor of her apartment complex’s garage — rather than the third floor, where she lived — and found the apartment’s door ajar.
Three days after the shooting, Guyger was arrested for manslaughter. She was subsequently fired from the Dallas police department and charged by a grand jury with murder.
The jury will have to decide whether Guyger committed murder, a lesser offense such as manslaughter or criminally negligent homicide, or no crime at all.
Events that preceded the trial
In the events that preceded the trial, the family of an unarmed black man who was shot and killed in his own apartment by a white former Dallas police officer filed a federal lawsuit.
The suit argues that Amber Guyger used excessive force when she gunned down Botham Jean, a 26-year-old native of St. Lucia, inside his apartment on Sept. 6. According to court records, Guyger reported she mistook his apartment for her own and thought she’d encountered an intruder.
Guyger and the city of Dallas are named as defendants in the lawsuit. Jean’s parents, Bertrum Jean and Allison Jean, are listed as plaintiffs.
Guyger was arrested and charged with manslaughter days after the shooting and has since been fired from the Dallas Police Department. The lawsuit contends the department did not adequately train Guyger, who had ended her shift prior to the shooting.
The litigation argues Guyger was acting under her scope as a Dallas officer during the deadly encounter.
Conflicting narratives
“Officer Guyger was ill-trained, and as a result, defaulted to the defective DPD policy: to use deadly force even when there exist no immediate threat of harm to themselves or others,” the lawsuit said. There remain conflicting narratives over what led up to the deadly shooting.
An affidavit prepared by the Texas Rangers said Guyger went to the wrong apartment after ending her shift on Sept. 6. The door, according to the document, was ajar and Guyger opened it.
Inside, the lights were off and a figure in the darkness that cast a large silhouette across the room, according to Guyger. She said she thought her apartment was being burglarized and gave verbal commands to the person, who ignored them.
She then pulled out her firearm and shot two times, hitting Jean once in the torso, according to the affidavit. The lawsuit said Guyger did not give emergency aid to Jean following the gunfire.
Lee Merritt, one of the attorneys for Jean’s family, cast doubt on Guyger’s narrative. Merritt has said that two independent witnesses told him they heard knocking on the door in the hallway before the shooting. He said one witness reported hearing a woman’s voice saying, “Let me in! Let me in!”
Dallas police declined to comment on the litigation, as did Guyger’s criminal attorney Robert Rogers.
Updated 18:09 IST, September 23rd 2019