Former Dallas Cop Amber Guyger Found Guilty of Murder
Former Dallas police officer Amber Guyger was found guilty of murder Tuesday by a jury of her peers.
The Associated Press and KLTV report that the verdict was reached after six days of testimony in Guyger's trial and hours of deliberation Tuesday morning. In video shared by CNN, Judge Tammy Kemp read the verdict aloud in court, then quickly silenced an outburst from the gallery.
As reported by the AP, Guyger testified that she entered the wrong apartment on the night of September 6, 2018 and, believing upstairs neighbor Botham Jean to be an intruder, opened fire when he moved. She and her defense team argued that she was fatigued after a long shift and didn't realize she was on the wrong floor of her apartment complex and entering the wrong apartment, but jurors didn't buy her story.
Judge Kemp was criticized in the media for ruling that jurors could consider Texas' Castle Doctrine in the case - a doctrine that allows citizens to use deadly force against anyone who tries to forcibly enter their home or remove them from it. She also ruled that jurors could consider a manslaughter verdict.
According to a radio report from Fox News, Guyger will be called back into a Dallas courtroom at 1 PM Central Time today for sentencing. She faces between 5 and 99 years in prison.