GUILTY TX - Former Dallas Police Officer Amber Guyger, indicted for Murder of Botham Shem Jean #7

[iluvmua]

I hope AG truly takes Bo's brothers words to heart while she is in prison and I hope she comes out a better person than before.

Jmo.

 

[blue22]

Let's just say the victim's family practiced - oh I don't know - Santeria. Let's say they showed the same forgiveness based on that religion. Then let's say after the proceedings were over the judge brought out a book of that religion to share with the murderer. What difference would it make? None. It's a non-issue and IMO did not bring religion into the court. I am not a Christian and I'd be the first to call it out if today were over the top.

Imagine what all these people would say if she handed her a Quran.

Methinks it would be a bit different.

 

[CrimeDawg123]

Imagine what all these people would say if she handed her a Quran.

Methinks it would be a bit different.

Indeed

 

[blue22]

Indeed

Talk about rioting LOL. The streets would be full if it happened.

 

[LietKynes]

Unlikely. There was no act of malice, she made a mistake that had terrible consequences. Putting her in prison is not going to make her a "better person" because she presumable is one already and is not a criminal in habit. Rehabilitation is not required, it is not as though she is going to go out and commit other crimes when she is released. All a long prison sentence will do is cost the taxpayers a large amount of money and wreck her life.

BBM

Re. the bolded : Just, wow.
Have to respectfully disagree on that.
And we don't know her personally, so cannot say if she is presumably a "better person".
She certainly made terrible choices that day.
Not only killing an innocent person but the sexting afterwards.
Speaks volumes .

I for one do not believe her life is in any way, shape, or form -- "wrecked".
Botham's family will have a lifetime of pain and loneliness that I can't imagine.
They will be hurting and miss him until the day they die. That is a very long time.
MOO

 

[Weki]

Powerful and eloquent. And anyone who denies that she is right is the hateful one!

 

[imstilla.grandma]

 

[imstilla.grandma]

 

[imstilla.grandma]

 

[MsArk]

Oh my! What a day I missed! Surprised she only received 10 years but after reading about Botham’s family’s wonderful overtures to AG, I have to feel like they were just fine with 10 years. I really hope AG can find some kind of a purpose while there so these years are not wasted. Both families will stay in my prayers.

ETA- Judge Kemp is the best! I really liked her during the proceeding but frankly, I admire her now.

 

[mickey2942]

Imagine what all these people would say if she handed her a Quran.

Methinks it would be a bit different.

No, I think that they were sharing their beliefs and culture with AG.

I am not Catholic, or Hispanic, but have been to many Quinceanera parties, and Bar Mitzvahs, even though I am not Jewish. I was given a Koran by a woman I met, she enjoyed sharing her faith with me.

I do think that our country is becoming increasingly diverse, and the issue of bibles in courts, and swearing to tell the truth so "help me God...", may become a Supreme court decision at some point. But not today.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

 

[wyome]

That was fantastic. What an amazing young man. And we finally really see AG showing true emotion. Love, and forgiveness is so much more powerful than hatred. It looked like that poor girl really hasn't had a hug, and needed one.

Her defense team didn't even touch her shoulder when she was convicted of murder, but her victim's brother gave her a hug at her sentencing hearing. Wow. Where is my tissue? That was amazing. I bet that there wasn't a dry eye in that courtroom.

She did need a hug. And not from a Rivera.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

 

[CrimeDawg123]

No, I think that they were sharing their beliefs and culture with AG.

I am not Catholic, or Hispanic, but have been to many Quinceanera parties, and Bar Mitzvahs, even though I am not Jewish. I was given a Koran by a woman I met, she enjoyed sharing her faith with me.

I do think that our country is becoming increasingly diverse, and the issue of bibles in courts, and swearing to tell the truth so "help me God...", may become a Supreme court decision at some point. But not today.

There have been a lot of incidences in courtrooms in this country where religion was thrown about in inappropriate ways by judges IMO. I don't think what we saw today falls in that category. The judge was very careful to not engage while on the bench. People are super-sensitive about this issue which IMO is just silly.

 

[book-thinker]

Botham Shem family can to begin to heal knowing she has been sentenced to 10 years in prison.

 

[Hraefn]

I think it is all good and well to talk about these things after the fact, but when you are actually in a situation like that you are not going to be thinking or acting rationally, and will do things that look off when viewed later.

I think anyone, including you, is going to be panicking in a major way if you accidently walked into the wrong house and shot someone you thought was an intruder. You can't judge behaviour based on theory, all that goes out of the window in a high stress situation like that. That includes any training you might have had. Until you have actually been in a situation you don't know how you are going to react when it really happens, no matter what your training is. I say this as someone who has served in the military. People react in all sorts of ways you don't expect. The phrase "fight or flight reaction" is very real.

If I put myself in AG's shoes and assume I did everything just as she did, I would have expected to be incarcerated for 10+ years. She said it herself "I *advertiser censored**ed up. . . I'm *advertiser censored**ed. . ."

 

[imstilla.grandma]

 

[MTW2011]

I’m glad his brother said what he did, even throwing in that he wasn’t going to say it to his family, but I’m glad he did. I’m glad Amber could hear him say all that he did. I worry though that his parents have such a different view than him, though, his mom was very upset with just 10 years and his brother wasn’t anywhere to be found during the family’s words after sentencing to the media.

 

[MyBelle]

That's the thing. I mean we have a serpararion of church and state and I want that protected. But victim, defendant and victim's families all appear to be of the Christian faith and so it's not like she gave a Buddhist a bible.

This is TX. Super religious. It was off the record and a horrible case. We can be human too.

I would normally have a lot of concerns about a public official doing something like that as everyone has different faiths or no faith and the government is to stay out of that.

But there's also a concept of reparative justice and also common sense. What will help the victims heal? What will help the community heal? Do these actions speak to the community? Can they help AG become a better person?

I try not to be too rigid in matters like this where healing is crucial for everyone.

I understand about being human but has the Judge ever given another convicted felon a Bible in her courtroom? The family and their supporters all along have blasted the overt favoritism extended to the defendant because she was a cop beginning the very moment she killed their son. She wasn't taken immediately into custody. She wasn't being recorded as she sat in a police car. Quick bail and she's off on a cruise. And now, she's been given a much lighter sentence than the parents wanted and then she's given a Bible by the Judge. The optics are not good.

JMO