A Black Law enforcement officer is picking up some criticism online after video caught her stroking the hair of white former Dallas police officer Amber Guyger just after she was found guilty of murder.
Guyger, 31, testified last week she was in uniform when she walked into the apartment of 26-year-old PwC associate Botham Jean, shot and killed him Sept. 6, 2018.
WFAA video captured the moments after Judge Tammy Kemp read the guilty verdict in court Tuesday.
Guyger stood until Kemp allowed her to be seated. That’s when the video later showed the officer smoothing Guyger’s hair.
“There was some subtle mammying going on in the court room in the Amber Guyger case today,” filmmaker Tariq Nasheed tweeted Tuesday.
“That’s something literally out of a slave movie,” @thesavoyshow tweeted in response.
“I’ve never seen a cop or bailiff play in a convicted murderers hair after the verdict,” @EliteThoughts tweeted. “She was completely unprofessional and embarrassed herself and the court.”
Some Twitter users, however pointed out the possibility that Guyger and the officer knew each other.
“They are all law enforcement… they are all on their code,” @KayKayListens tweeted.
“They probably know each other,” @kymmy0609 tweeted. “Sometimes good people make bad choices. Nothing wrong with her comforting a former work associate.”
Guyger testified in a Dallas County courtroom last week that she thought she was entering her own third-floor apartment when she instead walked into Jean’s fourth-floor unit.
“I never want anybody to have to go through or even imagine going through what I felt that night,” Guyger said.
Prosecutor Jason Fine zeroed in on the words in closing arguments he presented to the court Monday.
“Are you kidding me?” he said of Guyger’s words.
Related: ‘She is an Intruder into His Home’: 6 Takeaways From Closing Arguments Raised in Amber Guyger Trial
The case has garnered substantial media criticism this week after Judge Tammy Kemp ruled the jury could consider if a set of legal protections known as the Castle Doctrine applied.
Jean’s family lawyer, Lee Merritt, said the doctrine is basically Texas’ version of Florida’s “stand your ground” law, a defense which shooter George Zimmerman considered employing — but ultimately did not use — in the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin Feb. 26, 2012, in Sanford.
“If there’s an intruder in your home and you want to blow them away, go for it,” Merritt said of the law’s legal protection before the trial started. “Of course, Ms. Guyger was not in her home, so she should not be afforded the benefit of the Castle documents.”
The jury also was asked to decide whether Guyger’s action on the evening in question was a reasonable “mistake of fact.”
Jurors ultimately determined it was not after hearing the prosecution’s argument that there were several signs Guyger was in the wrong apartment.
“The apartment sign, his red door mat, the blinking red light signaling her key wasn’t recognized, the lack of a whirring motor sound from the key and the feeling of walking from concrete onto carpet,” Fine said in closing arguments.
Defense attorney Toby Shook criticized the prosecution for trying to imply Guyger did nothing to try to help Jean.
“She was desperate,” Shook said. “She wanted help to arrive.”
She attempted a sternum rub, but a “bullet tore through his heart,” Shook said.
It wasn’t “doing any good,” he added.
Sentencing for Guyger started Tuesday afternoon.
Murder can either carry a five-to-99-year sentence or life in prison in Texas, according to several news outlets.
