Botham Jean's younger brother Brandt Jean hugs convicted murderer and former Dallas Police Officer Amber Guyger. Photo / AP
Botham Jean's younger brother Brandt Jean hugs convicted murderer and former Dallas Police Officer Amber Guyger. Photo / AP
A white Dallas police officer was sentenced on Wednesday (US time) to 10 years in prison for killing her black neighbour in his apartment, which she said she mistook for her own unit one floor below.
Amber Guyger didn't appear to show much reaction, at least from the angle of a live camera stream, as the judge read the jury's sentence. It came a day after the jury convicted her of murder in the September 2018 killing of Botham Jean.
Guyger's sentence was met with boos and jeers by a crowd gathered outside the courtroom. "It's a slap in the face," one woman said.
Despite the outcry, Jean's younger brother, Brandt Jean, as he addressed Guyger in a victim impact statement after the sentence, told Guyger that he forgave her and that he loved her as he would any other person. He asked the judge if he could hug Guyger, and the two embraced.
"I'm not going to say I hope you rot and die, just like my brother - I personally want the best for you," Brandt Jean, 18, said. "I wasn't going to say this in front of my family or anyone, but I don't even want you to go to jail. I want the best for you, because I know that's exactly what Botham would want."
In extraordinary scenes, Judge Tammy Kemp then got down off the bench, and spoke with Jean's family members and embraced them. Kemp then spoke with Guyger and gave her a Bible. The judge and Guyger also embraced.
As Jean's family walked out of the courtroom, the group that had been outside began a chant of, "No justice! No peace!" Two young black women hugged each other and cried.
— the Robert E. Lee facts guy (@thickyrubio) October 2, 2019
Booking photo provided by the Dallas County Sheriff's Department shows former Dallas Police Officer Amber Guyger. Photo / AP
The basic facts of the unusual shooting were not in dispute throughout the trial. Guyger, returning from a long shift that night, entered Jean's fourth-floor apartment and shot him. He had been eating a bowl of ice cream before she fired.
Guyger said she parked on the wrong floor and mistook Jean's apartment for her own, which was directly below his, and mistook him for a burglar. In the frantic 911 call played repeatedly during the trial, Guyger said "I thought it was my apartment" nearly 20 times.
Her lawyers argued that the identical physical appearance of the apartment complex from floor to floor frequently led to tenants going to the wrong apartments.
Despite the outcry, Brandt Jean embraced Amber Guyger after she was sentenced to 10 years for killing his brother. Photo / CBS News
Bertrum Jean, father of Botham Jean, breaks down on the witness stand. Photo / AP
Allison Jean, left, mother of Botham Jean, and attorneys Lee Merritt, center, and Daryl Washington, right, leave court as the jury begins deliberation. Photo / AP
Botham Jean's younger brother Brandt Jean, centre, walks out of court with his father Bertram, centre rear. Photo / AP
Allison Jean, center, mother of Botham Jean, makes comments during a news conference as attorneys Ben Crump, left, Lee Merritt, rear, and Daryl Washington, right, look on. Photo / AP
But prosecutors questioned how Guyger could have missed numerous signs that she was in the wrong place. They also asked why she didn't call for backup instead of walking into the apartment if she thought she was being burglarised and suggested she was distracted by sexually explicit phone messages she had been exchanging with her police partner, who was also her lover.
Alana Guyger, Amber Guyger's sister, testifies during the punishment phase of the trial of former Dallas police officer Amber Guyger. Photo / AP
Fired Dallas police officer Amber Guyger listens as friends, family and coworkers speak in her defence. Photo / AP
The shooting drew widespread attention because of the strange circumstances and because it was one in a string of shootings of unarmed black men by white police officers.
One of the Jean family lawyers hailed the verdict as "a victory for black people in America" after it was handed down Tuesday.
The jury was largely made up of women and people of colour.
