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

[Poedelini]

I hope she does not get more then 25ish years. I don't think this was intentionally. Did she made mistakes, YES! But im kind of shocked how people talk about her.

Rest in Peace Botham

 

[Lillymac]

It’s just showing the jury call button at mo on law and crime. I guess that lights up when they are ready to come back.. I wonder if they even had a figure in mind before they went to deliberate

That's the local talk plus for the verdict too.

 

[Bennettfit]

if she is eligible for parole then I would want 50 years!!!

It's not parole that's the issue it's good time credit, which can add up to a 66% sentence reduction. I found this that explains Texas good time credits, but apparently, it only applies to county jail time. So, I don't know, they certainly make it confusing.
TDCJ good time credits explained

 

[Eclipse]

Well, there's really no other case I can think of to compare this sad, insane incident to. Maybe a sentence similar to what Mohammed Noor received would be correct.

 

[Weki]

The instructions were clear - the parole eligibility is for actual time served, not time for good behavior etc. She will have to serve half of the time she gets before she's considered parole eligible.

The reality is that AG is going to some cushy prison, probably minimum security. She's not doing time like most people do time. She'll be in protective custody.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Taking the stand to speak on her daughter's behalf, Karen Guyger, 66, provided some background on Amber Guyger's siblings, her separation from Amber Guyger's father and her children's upbringing in Arlington, just outside Dallas.

She broke down several times during her testimony and had trouble getting her words out as she recounted suspecting her ex-boyfriend of sexually molesting Amber in 1995, when she was 6.

"I was going back to the bedroom. I was fixing to take a shower and I forgot my comb. And that's when I saw him coming down out the bedroom and then Amber came out," she said.

Amber Guyger's sister, Alana Guyger, later elaborated, saying the boyfriend "touched (Amber) inappropriately on a few occasions."

Amber's mother called police, who arrested her then-boyfriend on a count of indecency with a child, to which he pleaded guilty, Karen Guyger said.

"She was the little sister the I always looked up to," said Alana Guyger, who shared a bedroom with her sister as a child. "I've always admired her for being brave. She's outgoing. She just has this certain positive energy that everybody gravitates toward. They want to be her friend."

On the day Jean died, the mother said, her daughter called crying uncontrollably. She was very upset. I couldn't understand her when she first told me. I couldn't understand her because she was crying so hard," she said.

In later conversations, her daughter told her, "She wanted to take his place. She'd always tell me she wished that she could take his place. She feels very bad about it."

Added Alana Guyger, "She doesn't have that same light or energy that she had before. ... She's expressed to me how she feels bad spending time with her family because he can't be with his."

Jean's father Bertrum, takes the stand.
Vacillating between tears and smiles.

"It did not matter what time it was,
I just wanted him with me"
"There were times when my friends said
I was babying him, a big boy, but I enjoyed doing that."
As he grew up, Jean, like many kids in primary school, grew embarrassed of embracing his father,
"but I demanded it:
Come and hug your dad'"

“While Botham Jean was at Harding, his father also looked forward to their Sunday chats.
They'd talk about church. Botham would show off his good cooking,
He learned from me."

"My Sundays have been destroyed. I'm not hearing his voice,"
"How could we have lost Botham?
Such a sweet boy, he tried his best to live a good, honest life.
He loved God. He loved everyone. How could this happen to him?"​

~Bertrum Jean​

Ex-Dallas policewoman Amber Guyger may face lighter sentence if jury agrees to 'sudden passion' defense - CNN

 

[oviedo]

So if she gets 28 years she sill have to serve the whole 28 years?

The instructions just read by the judge were that she'd be eligible for parole after serving half her sentence or 30 years, whichever is less. Of course there's no guarantee that she'll be paroled and that's entirely up to the parole board. I think a 28 year sentence is just if the jury decides to go that symbolic route. In most states, a murder conviction is an automatic 25 to life with parole. And I think 25 years for taking a life is just. I mean we can go back and forth and say but she didn't mean to.....sorry....not good enough. You don't kill someone and say oops and go on a cruise. Then go to trial and expect to waltz out in 5 or 10 years. That's ridiculous!

BBM - based on this it would seem she would serve 14 years? JMO

 

[lonetraveler]

Watching the impact statement of father. Very heartbreaking. I feel so bad for his pain.

 

[Jason Kendrick]

I sat on a felony conviction trial in Texas. (not Murder). We were instructed he would have to serve half of sentence to be eligible for parole. So when one side of us said 20 years another side of us always figured it was actually 10 and decided accordingly. Also note that if sentenced to 20 but made parole in 10 the terms of supervised parole will be the length of original sentence left

 

[Weki]

BBM - based on this it would seem she would serve 14 years? JMO

Yes you're right. If they give her 28 years, she'd be eligible for parole in 14. So is the parole board likely to parole her out? I would say that's very likely. She'll likely be a good prisoner. She's likely to get sympathy from a parole board. So the jury will have to consider all that per the instructions. They could give a high sentence to ensure she doesn't get out early on parole. I think they're within their rights to consider all those possibilities, and they should.

 

[Lillymac]

Good reminder - AG is in this position because of her own actions! Had she not been so trigger happy and prone to violence, she would not be looking at many years in prison right now. She still has her life. She will have opportunities for friendship, more schooling, she can learn a craft, she may even get married (many prisoners do), she'll still have contact with her family. None of those things are available to Botham Jean and his family. Lets not lose perspective here. She's still ALIVE!

My belief in God tells me Mr. Jean is in a far better place. We have to hold on to faith which I'm sure his mother and family is doing. Celebration of his life tonight at his church. Public invited.

 

[kaen]

I am a strong believer in the idea that this woman can be rehabilitated and become a productive member of our society after she serves her term. I don't want blood but I want to justice to be insured for Mr. Jean. I would hope she comes out of prison with a mission to be her best self and do what she did for the drug addicted woman or do the kind of actions that we would have all benefited from if Mr. Jean had survived.

The sudden passion not being brought up was about just letting the jury figure it out and see that the state was okay with it.

She killed him intentionally. She shot at him to kill him. She admitted that. Yes, she shot him after she made a mistake but her actions were intentional. For that, she should pay.

She did not render assistance to him either. She realized she made a mistake but took no action to try and mitigate her actions by helping him. For that, she should pay.

I think that the 28 years that the family has asked for is probably just about right. In my head, I had been thinking of 30 so it makes sense to me.

 

[Eclipse]

Yes you're right. If they give her 28 years, she'd be eligible for parole in 14. So is the parole board likely to parole her out? I would say that's very likely. She'll likely be a good prisoner. She's likely to get sympathy from a parole board. So the jury will have to consider all that per the instructions. They could give a high sentence to ensure she doesn't get out early on parole. I think they're within their rights to consider all those possibilities, and they should.

I thought the Judge instructed them to not consider possible parole.

 

[CrimeDawg123]

This case has renewed my faith in our justice system in Texas. I would have just given up if a police officer got away with walking into someone's house and killing them with no consequences. We have cases all the time where LE kills people in questionable circumstances and they just seem to get away with it all the time simply because they are police officers. I am also heartened that the castle doctrine defense really didn't come to play that much. I support the castle doctrine, I support the right of citizens to protect themselves, especially in their own homes, even if it means using lethal force. Trying to use the castle doctrine as a defense for AG was complete BS. I am glad the jury saw it that way.

 

[Jason Kendrick]

I will also add that I think ALL are eligible for parole after 30 years served. SO the difference between 99 and 60 is negligible other that the length of supervised parole (if granted)

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

Delete.

 

[Weki]

I thought the Judge instructed them to not consider possible parole.

Yes I think she said something like that. But the fact that it's in the instructions that she would be eligible for parole in half the time sentenced is telling to me. Why put it in there if they're not to consider it at all? So I think they are to consider it on some level. If that makes sense.

 

[blue22]

JMO, but I think they will give her the 28 years. I would not criticize that choice.

 

[Jason Kendrick]

Yes I think she said something like that. But the fact that it's in the instructions that she would be eligible for parole in half the time sentenced is telling to me. Why put it in there if they're not to consider it at all? So I think they are to consider it on some level. If that makes sense.

when I sat on jury - we did..

 

[Eclipse]

Yes I think she said something like that. But the fact that it's in the instructions that she would be eligible for parole in half the time sentenced is telling to me. Why put it in there if they're not to consider it at all? So I think they are to consider it on some level. If that makes sense.

It is odd that it is in there yet not to be considered. I live in Texas and reading the laws for murder and some other felonies is extra confusing to me.