Murder of Botham Jean

Submission 6,734

Overview

The Murder of Botham Jean occurred in September 2018, when off-duty police officer Amber Guygen entered the apartment of Botham Jean, shot and killed him. Guygen contended that she mistook Jean's apartment for her own and assumed that Jean was burglarizing her residence. In October 2019, she was found guilty of murder and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Background

On September 6th, 2018, Amber Guygen, 30, an off-duty police officer, entered the apartment of 26-year-old Botham Jean, shot and killed him. Guygen claimed that she had mistaken Jean's third-floor apartment for her fourth-floor apartment and believed Jean to be a burglar who had entered her domicile.^[1] Guygen was arrested for manslaughter.

According to the Dallas Police Department:^[2]

Preliminary information suggests that the officer arrived home in full uniform after working a full shift. The officer reported to the responding officers that she entered the victim’s apartment believing that it was her own. At some point, the officer fired her weapon striking the victim. Responding officers administered aid to the victim, a 26-year-old male, at the scene. The victim was then transported to the hospital and pronounced deceased. Next of kin notification has not been made at this time.

Developments

Trial

Three days after the incident, Guygen turned herself in to authorities. She was terminated roughly two weeks later on September 24th. On November 30th, 2018, a grand jury indicted Guygen for murder.

On September 22nd, 2019, the trial of Amber Guygen began.

Conviction

On October 1st, 2019, Guygen was found guilty of murder, after a jury deliberated for six hours. She was sentenced to 10-years in prison.^[4]

Online Reaction

The conviction and sentencing of Guygen was the topic of conversation online. On October 1st, Redditor ^[5] MikeCates posted about the conviction in the /r/news subreddit, receiving more than 72,000 points (92% upvoted) and 11,000 comments in two days. Additionally, that day, Redditor^[6] JAlbert653 posted about the conviction in the /r/JusticeServed subreddit and received more than 23,000 points (94% upvoted) and 3,600 comments in two days.

On October 2nd, Twitter user @IamGMJohnson shared a video of Botham Jean's mother. They wrote, "Botham Jeans mother calling out police corruption. You won’t spin this into so Black forgiveness story. Within 24 hours, the tweet received more than 236,000 views, 6,000 likes and 3,000 retweets (shown below).

Brandt Jean Hugs Amber Guygen

On October 2nd, 2019, while on the witness stand, Botham Jean's brother Brandt offered his forgiveness to his brother's killer and requested a hug from Guygen. He said, "I don't know if this is possible, but can I give her a hug, please. Please?" He stood up and the two hugged (video below).

The video received a number of reactions from people online. Twitter^[7] user @BerniceKing tweeted, "God bless #BothamJean’s brother. But don’t confuse his forgiveness with absolving this nation for its gross, bitter discrimination against Black people in a myriad of its systems and policies. Racism and white supremacist ideology can’t be 'hugged out.' Do #BlackLivesMatter?" The tweet received more than 14,000 likes and 3,600 retweets in 24 hours (shown below, left).

Twitter user @keithboykin tweeted,^[8] "Amber Guyger murdered Botham Jean. The jury gave her 10 years. The judge hugged her.
The victim’s brother hugged her. A police officer in court brushed her hair. The Message: White women’s lives are valuable. Black men’s lives are not." Within 24 hours, the tweet received more than 11,000 likes and 4,700 retweets (shown below, right).

On October 2nd, Redditor^[9] unknown_human shared a GIF of the hug on the /r/gifs subreddit. The post received more than 29,000 points (83% upvoted) and 3,600 comments in 24 hours (shown below).