Dallas (1080 KRLD)- A three-judge panel of the 5th Court of Appeals has taken the murder conviction and 10-year prison term of former Dallas police officer Amber Guyger under advisement.
Guyger was convicted in the Sept. 6, 2018 shooting death of neighbor Botham Jean, who was killed in his apartment, just two blocks from Dallas Police headquarters.
Guyger had just finished a shift and had gone to the wrong floor of the building. She testified she had walked down a hallway that looked similar to hers, pushed open the door and seen an intruder inside. She told a Dallas County jury that she feared the man inside was about to attack her, so she opened fire, only seconds later realizing she had gone to the wrong floor and it was she who was the trespasser.
"She was convicted of walking into the wrong apartment and killing the occupant of that apartment." said Michael Mowla, attorney for Guyger.
Guyger is seeking to have the murder conviction set aside, or in the alternative have the court substituting a lesser charge of criminally negligent homicide with a remand to the trial court for a new punishment hearing.
It is Guyger's position that the shooting was a "mistake of fact," that Guyger honestly believed that she was in the correct apartment and that she was confronting a potential life-threatening situation.
But judges seemed skeptical of the arguments, especially after Guyger testified that she not only shot Jean, but that she intended to kill.
"Mr. Mowla, you're overlooking the fact that Miss Guyger testified that she intentionally shot Mr. Jean."
"If she had been in her own apartment, does the Court believe she had justification to shoot to kill?" said Mowla. "Yes she intended to pull the trigger, yes she intended to kill who she thought was an intruder in her home." But Mowla went on to say there has never been another case of a person walking into the wrong home and shot someone inside the wrong home.
Dallas County Assistant District Attorney Doug Gladden was brief, using only eight of his allotted 20 minutes to argue the trial was clean and that the jury reached a correct verdict.
"This is a murder case, not a criminal trespass case. When Amber Guyger shot Botham Jean, she didn't take someone else's property, she took the life of a human being." Gladden said. "She pointed a gun at him, she intended to kill him. That's murder. It's not negligent, it's mistake of fact, it's not justified. Amber Guyger murdered Botham Jean. This Court should say so and affirm the trial court's judgement."
The court took the matter under advisement. A ruling is not expected for months.
