Cop Who Shot Unarmed Neighbor in His Own Apartment Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison | 22 Words

Amber Guyger, a white police officer from Dallas, made national news last year for shooting an unarmed black man.

The thirty-three-year-old cop fatally shot her neighbor, Botham Jean. Guyger's defense was that she believed he was an intruder. The thing was, Mr. Jean didn't even enter Guyger's apartment... she entered his. Amber tried to get away with the murder by claiming she had mistakingly entered the wrong apartment, thinking that she was in fact in her home.

The court found holes in her defense and she was found guilty.

And now, she has finally been handed her sentence. Keep scrolling to read the full story, and to hear just how long she will serve behind bars...

Amber Guyger has been found guilty of murder.

via: NBC

 Last year, the former Dallas police officer, fatally shot her black neighbor - twenty-six-year-old accountant, Botham Jean, on Sept. 6, 2018, just before 10 p.m.

She claimed she thought he was an "intruder" despite shooting him in his own apartment...

via: Harding University

 According to Guyger, she "mistakingly" entered Jean's apartment, which was located directly above hers, and, upon thinking he was an "intruder" shot him twice in the chest. The two did not know one another. During the trial, the defense brought on other tenants from the same apartment complex who testified that they also had parked on a different floor and gone to the wrong unit by mistake.

Jean's funeral took place on September 13, 2018.

via: Getty

 His friends and family attended the Greenville Avenue Church of Christ to lay him to rest.

Following the shooting, Guyger was rightfully fired from the police force.

via: WKYT

 Toxicology results presented at trial showed she was not intoxicated during the shooting, with the prosecution arguing that Guyger was at fault for missing "several clues" that she was on the wrong floor and subsequently went to the wrong apartment, including a red doormat that Jean's apartment had and hers did not.

The fatal shooting led to one of the most publicized murder trials in Dallas for decades.

via: Reuters

 And it also shed light on issues of police use of force and racial bias, including the fact that is was one in a string of shootings of unarmed black men by white police officers. According to NBC news: "Prosecutors said Jean was watching television and eating ice cream in his living room when Guyger burst inside, likely scaring him. The trajectory of the bullet showed that he was either getting up from his couch or cowering when Guyger fired her service weapon, they added."

Minimal life-saving aid was given to Jean after he was shot.

via: Facebook

 The former police officer admitted to giving the twenty-six-year-old "minimal life-saving aid, as she "only had one hand free" while she called emergency services, adding that her state of mind was "frantic."

The Jean family have insisted Guyger would have opened fire if he hadn't have been black.

via: Getty

 As per NBC: "Testifying in her own defense last week, Guyger told jurors that she was scared for her life when she entered an apartment that she thought was hers,  and the man inside began coming toward her and yelling, "Hey! Hey! Hey!"

She claimed the shooting had nothing to do with race.

via: NBC

 "I never wanted to take an innocent person's life. I'm so sorry," Guyger said on the stand. "This is not about hate — it's about being scared."

She was hoping for a manslaughter charge.

via: NBC

 ...Which would have carried a lesser sentence of around 2 to twenty years behind bars.

But she has ultimately been found guilty of murder.

via: NBC

 She now faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.

The unearthed deleted text messages...

via: Twitter

 Since Amber was found guilty, text message exchanges have been unearthed that reveal just how racist the officer was. These first messages are from when Guyger had to work the MLK Day Parade in 2018. Her friend asks when it will be over... To which Guyger replies: "When MLK is dead... oh wait."

The MLK parade is an important day for a lot of people.

Clearly, for Guyger the whole thing is just one big inconvenience. In the deleted text exchange with her friend, they even joke about how she could terrorize the crowd...

Yeah, police brutality sure is funny...

NYC public defender, Rebecca J. Kavanagh, shared the text exchanges on Twitter. Witness to the trial wherein these texts were exposed, Kavanagh also revealed that, in one message, Guyger and her friend joked about pushing and using pepper spray on the crowd. Bear in mind, the MLK parade was nothing but a peaceful parade celebrating the life and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.

In this exchange, Guyger point-blank called herself a racist.

via: Twitter

 Continuing the text interaction with her friend whilst working the parade, her friend mentions Guyger adopting her dog. The owner warns that her dog might be racist (?) - I guess, suggesting that she is racist... To which the "accidental" murderer responds: "It’s okay... I’m the same."

Sack Rivera.

Guyger was having an extramarital affair with her fellow officer, Martin Rivera. Since the messages were made public, there have been calls for Rivera to be sacked.

The Dallas cop certainly did not come off well in the exchange.

via: Facebook

 As you can see below, Guyger's hatred for black people seemed to be a shared feeling amongst her and her lover, Martin Rivera. Many Dallas civilians do not feel safe knowing that this racist cop is still out patrolling the streets - and, frankly, I don't blame them. "When will it end..."

"Damn I was at this area with 5 different black officers."

via: Twitter

 Updating her boyfriend on how many black officers she was working with certainly doesn't sound racist... ugh.

You know when you start a sentence with: "I'm not racist but..."

You can bet your bottom dollar that the next words that are going to come out of your mouth will be racist.

We need these racist officers off the streets.

From what we know, if we didn't know it already, it seems as though there are officers parading the streets that think that they can kill anybody they don't like the look of. The U.S police force needs to take note of cases like Amber Guyger and deal with the serious issue of racism within its ranks.

And now, she has finally been sentenced...

To a mere 10 years in prison. The jury, which found Guyger guilty of murder on Tuesday, reached a unanimous decision on the sentence after listening to Jean's and Guyger’s families, friends, and coworkers over 2 days of emotional testimony.

She was facing between 5 to ninety-nine years in prison...

via: Getty

 However, Judge Tammy Kemp allowed the jury to consider the “sudden passion" defense, which carries a reduced sentence of 2 to 20 years. This meant jurors were able to consider whether Guyger killed Jean in an act of “sudden passion" caused by unforeseen anger or terror “sufficient to render the mind incapable of cool reflection."

This is not justice.

Speaking to reporters after the sentencing hearing, Allison Jean called on the city of Dallas to "clean up" the police department. She criticized the investigation into her son's killing and the training that Guyger received. "Ten years in prison is 10 years for her reflection and for her to change her life but there is much more to be done by the city of Dallas," Allison Jean said. "The corruption that we saw during this process must stop."