Former Dallas cop Amber Guyger was sentenced 10 years Wednesday in the murder of PwC associate Botham Jean.
Judge Tammy Kemp, a Black woman, read the sentence in a Dallas County courtroom and said the jury did not find that she killed under sudden passion.
Guyger’s time served will begin Wednesday and could include other time served, Kemp said, and she thanked the jury for its service.
“This has been a most difficult case, and I want you to know we appreciate your service,” Kemp told the jury.
Black Twitter didn’t take too kindly to Guyger’s defense team using a Black cop and a former crack cocaine addict to make its case for a lower sentence for the ex-Dallas cop.
LaWanda Clark, a Black woman, told jurors Wednesday she struggled with a crack cocaine addiction and that Guyger wrote her a ticket on the day of a drug bust, which prompted her to turn her life around.
And Dallas police officer Cathy Odhiambo told jurors that when she was pregnant Guyger drove across city lines to take her to get a changing table, then braved a busy interstate to recover it when it fell off her truck.
“That’s the kind of person she is,” Odhiambo said.
Some Twitter users disagreed in comments under court photos of the women filmmaker Tariq Nasheed posted Wednesday.
“I’m not racist, I have Black friends,” @GAOTU_warrior said.
“Omg she wasn’t horrible to two blk ppl, ain’t that nice,” @AnastassiaDoct1 said.
“She should’ve had the Black Mammy Sheriff who was stroking her hair yesterday…..that would have been awesome,” @IslandElliss810 said on Twitter.
After being convicted of murder Tuesday, Guyger faced either life in prison or between five and 99 years for shooting and killing Jean Sept. 6, 2018, in his own apartment.
The case entered the sentencing phase Tuesday, just hours after the verdict was announced.
Jurors heard back-to-back testimony Wednesday from former coworkers and relatives for Guyger and Jean before attorneys presented closing statements.
Jean’s father broke down weeping twice on the stand describing his son and how it still hurts to hear him sing.
“Sunday is not a good day for me because I know he would be song leading,” the man said.
When the man left the stand, Kemp took deep breaths and appeared to be fighting back tears.
Prosecutor Mischeka Nicholson reminded jurors of the victim’s character that inspired the emotional reactions during her closing statements.
She also focused on racist text messages and violent social media memes Guyger posted. She said they speak to the former cop’s character.
“This is not a 5-year, 10-year or 15-year case,” Nichoson said.
Defense attorney Toby Shook reminded the jury of testimony from Guyger’s coworkers and mother earlier in the day.
Guyger’s mother, Karen Guyger, 66, said her daughter has helped take care of her in her struggle with pulmonary fibrosis and that Guyger was molested at 6 years old by the mom’s then-boyfriend.
Guyger “never wanted that to hold her back, she kept it inside,” Hook said in closing statements.
He added that she went on to work 40, sometime 60-hour weeks to support herself and help take care of her mother.
“Not all daughters do that,” Shook said. “Not all sons do that, but she does.”
Some people in the courthouse after the sentence was announced didn’t agree with the defense team’s description of Guyger and shouted so in protest after sentencing.
“No justice, no peace,” one woman yelled.
