GUILTY TX - Former Dallas Police Officer Amber Guyger, indicted for Murder of Botham Shem Jean #8

[imstilla.grandma]

Legal experts said it is reasonable to watch Kemp’s actions and raise concerns about any indiscretion. But since the trial was over and the jury was dismissed, they said the propriety of Kemp’s conduct isn’t clear-cut.

“We want our judges to be human and to show their humanity,” said Renee Knake, a law professor at the University of Houston and expert in judicial ethics. “That’s why our cases are decided by human beings and not machines.”
Complaint filed over hug between judge, Amber Guyger

 

[imstilla.grandma]

“No justice! No peace!”

The familiar chant was prompted by what protesters saw as a sentence too light for the murder of an innocent black man in his own apartment.
'No Justice:' At Dallas Rally, Outrage Over Amber Guyger's 10-Year Prison Sentence

 

[Hraefn]

And so also she has the right to say no to an appeal? I hope she chooses no to an appeal.

Yes, it is ultimately her choice.

 

[mickey2942]

Good!
Bring it!
No way can he stay.

And take Officer Rivera, who admitted to destroying evidence connected to a murder investigation.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

The Amber Guyger trial brought about a number of accusations of impropriety at DPD and a promise of investigation by Chief Renee Hall. One of the accused -- Dallas Police Association President Mike Mata has heard the calls for him to resign.

Calls for an Internal Investigation of DPD After Guyger Trial

 

[imstilla.grandma]

"I think it sends a message to America how people are treated, how victims are treated," Jean said.

"Brandt has been very closed ever since Botham's death. He spoke very little," she said. "So, I saw it as an opportunity to express himself. I didn't know what he was going to say. So, I was very shocked when he did that."

From left, Botham Jean's father, Bertrum; brother, Brandt; mother, Allison; and sister, Allisa Findley
Jean said her children were raised in the church. "We are people of faith, all the principles that we practice are principles of love, forgiveness, honesty," she said.

"And Brandt just demonstrated to the world, I would say, all the teachings that he's had from the time he's been born," she said.

"I found that he took tremendous courage to display what he did to his brother's killer, and in the way that he did it," Jean said.
"When I saw Brandt up there and what he was saying, I really felt Botham's presence in the room," she said.

Mother says Botham Jean's life was more valuable than 10-year sentence his killer was given - CNN

 

[kittythehare]

And take Officer Rivera, who admitted to destroying evidence connected to a murder investigation.

I'd like to see that boy getting jail for a very long time.
(personal theory is that he cancelled the date having procured a more convenient supply for his desires, Guyger lost the plot, got really angry and we know the rest)
And the convo was about the day's events at the arrests? That's aiding and abetting and amnesia for which he should be receiving treatment, not to mention his rampant racism.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

“You’re having people of color that have the opportunity to make judges now,” Watkins said. “Their life experience and their religious points of view are different than what we’ve seen in the past. That’s just the evolution of our judicial system.”
Judge’s hug not embraced by all after Dallas officer’s trial

 

[imstilla.grandma]

“It’s about removing from black people the agency of their anger, suggesting that we don’t have a right to righteous indignation, that it is somehow unacceptable for Christian black people to tap into their frustration at a death-dealing system that has caused them to bury generations of their sons and daughters,” he continued. “I think that’s sinful.”

It always seems like black people are given that heavy task of being able to forgive,” Risher said. The tendency to forgive, she said, is “part of a generational, DNA strand we have as black people,” a legacy of slavery: “For us to be able to live some kind of a decent existence and not carry rage and anger, we get to that point of having to forgive.”

“I stated a long time ago that if you’re more concerned about potential unrest than you are about potential injustice, that’s problematic,” Waters said.
Some see rush to forgive as rush to forget racial violence

 

[mickey2942]

I don't know if Botham Jean's family will file suit against the city of Dallas or not. As a taxpayer, I am so aggravated having to bail out cops when they screw up. Why do we always have to take the hit for this?
City will pay $75K to settle Austin Police excessive force lawsuit

What bothers me about the payout, is that the same thing happens over and over again.

1. Any "payout" should include termination...of the aggressor and supervisor. But of course, those are "personnel" matters, not subject to courtroom litigation.

I bet AG had some issues prior to this, that were never appropriately addressed. Oh, wait, Officer Rivera was supposedly her "supervising partner". I guess he "touched" on some of the "issues" with AG.

 

[Via Marple]

One last word from me....




I got apartment location right

Ex-Dallas cop gets 10 years for killing neighbor

 

[Via Marple]

Double post

 

[kaen]

The Amber Guyger trial brought about a number of accusations of impropriety at DPD and a promise of investigation by Chief Renee Hall. One of the accused -- Dallas Police Association President Mike Mata has heard the calls for him to resign.

Calls for an Internal Investigation of DPD After Guyger Trial

When there is an on-duty officer involved shooting, I can understand the desire to give the officer time---especially if there has been an adrenaline pumping situation where the officer was at risk of being killed themselves. Officers are always counseled to speak to their delegate before they ever speak on the record. A quiet officer and one with legal counsel makes sense to me.

The situation with Ms. Guyger was off the hook though. To give the DPA the authority to turn off cameras (or even tacit approval as the head of the DPA stated) is insane to me. No one should be allowed to impede an investigation--her state of mind and her utterances should not be shielded from anyone especially if there might be criminal charges. No one should be able to control the scene other than the people in charge of the scene and Ms. Guyger was a part of the scene.

Anyone she spoke with that night prior to, during and after she shot Mr. Jean should have been interviewed AND told not to erase or tamper with any evidence of their conversation- especially if they are on the job. IT smacks of a cover up and if it is not a cover-up their actions could be seen as improper and illegal. This is not rocket science.

If the DA knew that they routinely stopped recording devices in cars when the suspect or actor was an officer, then that DA should be fired. Police officers may deserve the benefit of the doubt but they should not be above the law.

AS always, MOO.

 

[grammieto5]

Huh? No one is talking about his brother....???

OK, so not on here. I should have been more clear. Sorry. I meant "out there" on FB, Twitter.

 

[grammieto5]

i hear no one talking about the brother...he did what was right for him...I have no issue with what he did...even the hug allowed by the judge...he is family and his brother was murdered.

OH boy! I really should have been more clear about where I was talking about. Not here. FB and Twitter.

 

[kaen]

If Mr. Mata is correct and this practice is sanctioned by the DA, then a major change needs to be had. That night she was off duty. But, to shield her they called it an on duty shooting.

Mr. Mata, the DPA president:

He leaned into a patrol car Guyger was sitting in the back of and told another officer to turn off a dash cam while Guyger was on the phone with her attorney.

It was enough for civil rights activists to accuse the officer’s group of trying to cover up and clean up Guyger’s account of what happened before she would face questioning.

On Thursday, Mata told CBS 11, what he did was proper and legal.

He says the Dallas County District Attorney’s office has for years endorsed having companion officers look out for the immediate needs of an officer after a shooting.

“Let’s be real clear. The DA (prosecutor Jason) Hermus had every and opportunity to call me and put me on that stand if I did something unethical, if I did something illegal or if I did something immoral. Why didn’t you put me on the stand? Why didn’t you ask me those questions? I’m going to tell you why,” said Mata. “Because the DA knew good and well that was our process. We have been doing it that way for the seven years I’ve been investigating critical incidences.”

Mata says this security camera video used as evidence in the trial shows him simply doing his job.

“I poked my head in and I asked ‘are you OK?’ She said ‘yes.’ I told her I will be right back. I went straight to the command staff that were at the scene and ask them is this an officer involved shooting, because I don’t ask officers what happened. That is not my job.”

Dallas Police Association President Mike Mata Defends Actions Involving Amber Guyger At Murder Scene

 

[Amber29]

I find it baffling that this jury believed both things: that Amber committed first degree murder of a completely innocent, wonderful man, and, that her punishment for such a murder is just 10 years.

AG was not charged or sentenced to 1st degree murder. That is part of the problem with peoples understanding of the sentence. There are no degrees of murder in Texas, that is why the sentence range is so broad of 5years - 99. Perhaps the jury felt her guilt fit the charge of murder the way it’s written in Texas but deserved a sentence closer to Manslaughter or what would be 2nd degree in other states.

It’s unreal to me that people praised this jury for the conviction and detests them for sentence. Maybe those people need to fight to change the laws in Texas and the way the statutes are written. A jury of her peers decided her fate, an extremely diverse jury at that and people want to blame the system and make this about race.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

“You’re having people of color that have the opportunity to make judges now,” Watkins said. “Their life experience and their religious points of view are different than what we’ve seen in the past. That’s just the evolution of our judicial system.”
Judge’s hug not embraced by all after Dallas officer’s trial

 

[mickey2942]

The one odd thing about the "hug", AG's Mother stated that AG had been molested as a child. Often, adults who were molested as children, do not like "hugs". It can be very uncomfortable and difficult.

Although, it looked like AG had true gratitude for the hugs she received the other day. A bad day, and a good day for AG. She messed up, and has to go to prison. I hope that she remembers that hug for a long time.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

"It was designed for you in your home. It wasn't designed for this kind of circumstance that existed in this Dallas case," Wentworth, now a justice of the peace in San Antonio, told ABC News following Guyger's conviction on Tuesday.

"Clearly, I don't think anybody anticipated, I certainly did not, that someone would shoot and kill someone in their own house believing that they were in their own," Wentworth said. "I mean that's just a circumstance I don't think anybody had thought of. I can say that I didn't foresee this kind of situation. No."

Tom Fox/The Dallas Morning News via AP, Pool
more +
"I don't criticize the judge for saying in this instance it was allowable for the jury to consider because if, in fact, the woman (Guyger) truly believed that she was in her house defending herself from an intruder, it would have been an appropriate use. Apparently the jury didn't buy that story," Wentworth said.

"I thought to myself, 'Well, isn't that amazing that Floridians haven't had this right that we here in Texas have had for decades.' And then I thought, 'You know, I'd better double-check," Wentworth said.

"Over the years, either through legislative action or court cases, we had lost that right to defend ourselves in our own homes and that, in fact, we had a duty to retreat," Wentworth said. "That just genuinely offended me because, you know, if I'm sitting with my family in my house watching the news at 10 o'clock at night and somebody's bashing in the front door with a crowbar, I shouldn't have to have a duty to retreat."

'I didn't foresee this,' author of law says of Amber Guyger self-defense try