A jury in Dallas, TX found former cop Amber Guyger guilty of murdering her Black neighbor Botham Jean last September.
The 31-year-old former officer was convicted in Dallas court in the killing of 26-year-old Jean. Guyger had claimed that she mistook his apartment for her own and believed he was an intruder when she fatally shot him in September 2018.
The jury deliberated for less than a day before reaching the verdict in the case. The ex-cop had broken down in tears during her testimony on Friday saying she wishes she had been the one murdered instead.
“I wish he had had the gun and had killed me,” an emotional Guyger told the jury. “I hate that I have to live with this every single day of my life. I’ve asked God for forgiveness.”
However, prosecutors said it was “absurd” for Guyger to have claimed she thought she was in her apartment. The noted a sexual phone conversation she was having with a fellow police officer whom she was having an affair with.
“Most of what she said was garbage,” Dallas County Assistant District Attorney Jason Fine said on Monday.
Guyger faces 99 years in prison on the murder charge.
