White ex-Dallas police officer Amber Guyger was found guilty of murder Tuesday less than one day after a jury started deliberations.
“We the jury unanimously find the defendant Amber Guyger guilty of murder as charged in the indictment,” Judget Tammy Kemp read in court Tuesday.
Guyger, 31, was convicted of murdering PwC associate Botham Jean two days after what would have been the man’s 28th birthday.
The former cop had earlier argued she thought she was walking into her own apartment when she instead walked into Jean’s unit, thought he was an intruder, and shot him.
When the verdict was read, more than two dozen bailiffs lined the courtroom and the hallway outside, according to the Dallas Morning News.
Guyger stood still until the jury left, but a woman in the crowd can be heard screeching immediately after hearing Guyger had been found guilty.
“Oh, shut up” a man replied before Kemp reprimanded them.
“No outbursts,” she said.
Still, in the hall, cheers broke out, according to the Dallas Morning News.
Jean’s mother, Allison Jean, leaned her head back, and her daughter, Allisa Findley, put her face in her hands, weeping, the newspaper reported.
“God is good. Trust him,” Allison Jean said.
The victim’s grandmother raised her right fist in the air, but Guyger’s mother was shaking, Dallas Morning News reported.
Jean’s family attorney Lee Merritt called it “a victory for Black people in America.”
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump said Botham Jean was “the best that we had to offer” but it shouldn’t take the best to get justice.
Dallas activist Dominique Alexander, of Next Generation Action Network, said he expected to be filing a complaint with the head of the Dallas police association, but instead he planned a celebration at 6:30 p.m. Central Time on the courthouse steps.
“I’m so grateful to God that we see a guilty verdict,” he said in NBC video.
Guyger is set to return to court for sentencing about 1 p.m. Central Time, the Dallas Morning News reported.
Murder can either carry a five-to-99-year sentence or life in prison, the newspaper reported, and it’s not eligible for probation.
