Amber Guyger, Fired Dallas Police Officer, Found Guilty Of Murdering Botham Jean In His Own Home

On Tuesday, Amber Guyger, the fired Dallas police officer who was accused of killing her neighbor in his own home, was convicted of murder by a jury at a court in Texas, The Dallas Morning News reported.

Per the Texas newspaper, cheers could be heard in the hallway outside the courtroom following Guyger’s conviction. The newspaper said the jury will now return to deliberations to decide what punishment the 31-year-old former police officer should face. Jurors began deliberating on the case on Monday following closing arguments from both Guyger’s defense team and state prosecutors.

When the verdict was delivered, Guyger’s sister, Allisa Findley, wept with her face in her hands, while Guyger stood and listened to the verdict delivered by the jury. Per The Dallas Morning News, one woman in the courtroom clapped and cheered following the reading of the verdict, though she was quieted by a bailiff.

As The Inquisitr previously reported, Guyger admitted to shooting and killing her neighbor, 26-year-old Botham Jean in his own apartment last year. Guyger and her lawyers argued that she mistook his apartment for her own, leading her to shoot and kill the man. The Dallas Morning News said that Guyger’s lawyers had asked the jury to think “cooly and calmly” about Guyger’s actions in September of last year, which she and her lawyers maintained were the result of a series of mistakes.

Guyger was officially fired by the Dallas police force less than a month after her actions last year. Prior to that, she’d worked with the Texas police department for four years. Per The Inquisitr, although Dallas Police Chief Renee Hall had previously said that Guyger would not be fired after the shooting death of Jean, she was let go by the police force following an internal investigation that determined she engaged in adverse conduct following her arrest on manslaughter charges.

Guyger, whose apartment was in the same building as Jean’s, on the floor directly below his, claimed to have mistakenly entered Jean’s apartment, believing it to be her own. The previous report from The Inquisitr suggests Guyger’s account of the incident was shaky, though she claimed to have thought she’d encountered a burglar upon entering what she believed to be her apartment. According to The Inquisitr, two witnesses claimed they heard Guyger pounding on the apartment door, demanding to be let in.

According to The Dallas Morning News, jurors will decide whether Guyger will serve between five and 99 years in prison, the sentences allowed by Texas law. The charge reportedly is not eligible for probation.