DALLAS (AP) — A former Dallas police officer’s claim that she believed she was in her own apartment when she fatally shot a neighbor in his home is absurd, a prosecutor said during closing arguments at her murder trial Monday.
This is INSANE!
A judge ruled that the jury can consider ‘Stand Your Ground’ in determining whether Dallas cop Amber Guyger was wrong in murdering #BothamJean in his apartment.
How the hell does she stand HER ground when she broke into HIS apartment?https://t.co/JPhqiNERPx
— Bishop Talbert Swan (@TalbertSwan) September 30, 2019
Assistant District Attorney Jason Fine told the jury that Amber Guyger was “an intruder” in Botham Jean’s home when she killed him last September.
Guyger tearfully testified last week that she mistook Jean’s apartment for her own after a long shift. Speaking publicly for the first time about the events of that night, she said she found the door of what she believed was her apartment unlocked and was afraid that someone had broken in. She said she feared for her life and opened fire using her service weapon when a silhouetted figure walked toward her in the dark.
“I have to live with this every single day of my life.” -Amber Guyger testifies at her trial https://t.co/6bP9xdQGXg
— KABB FOX 29 (@KABBFOX29) September 27, 2019
Guyger should have known she was in the wrong apartment, Fine said Monday, calling her claims “absurd” and “garbage.”
Defense attorney Toby Shook said Monday that Guyger made “a series of horrible mistakes” that were entirely understandable. He noted that other residents have also gone to the wrong apartments in that complex.
Prosecutors disagreed.
“It’s not a mistake. It’s a series of unreasonable decisions,” Fine said.
In her testimony Friday, the 31-year-old Guyger, who is white, repeatedly apologized for killing Jean, a black accountant from the Caribbean island nation of St. Lucia who lived a floor above her.
“I hate that I have to live with this every single day of my life and I ask God for forgiveness, and I hate myself every single day,” she said as she looked across the courtroom at Jean’s family.
Prosecutors said Jean was unarmed and eating a bowl of vanilla ice cream in his living room when Guyger killed him.
Guyger was arrested on a manslaughter charge three days after the killing. She was later fired and charged with murder .
___
Associated Press writer Jamie Stengle contributed to this report.
PHOTO: AP
HEAD BACK TO THE BLACKAMERICAWEB.COM HOMEPAGE
