Two jurors identified only by their juror numbers spoke out about why they sentenced former Dallas cop Amber Guyger to 10 years in prison in the murder of Black PwC associate Botham Jean.
Guyger testified in a controversial case that she thought she was walking into her own home when she instead walked into Jean’s apartment, shot and killed him Sept. 6, 2018.
She was convicted of murder Tuesday and sentenced Wednesday.
“I know a lot of people are not happy about the 10 years, but I felt like… this case was not like any other case,” Juror 34, a Black woman, told ABC News. “You can’t compare this case to any of those other officers killing unarmed Black men.
“Those officers that killed unarmed Black men, when they got out, they went back to living their lives,” Juror 34 said. “Amber Guyger, ever since she killed that man, she has not been the same.
“She showed remorse and that she’s going to have to deal with that for the rest of her life.”
The interview aired Friday on “Good Morning America” and also featured a white man who served as Juror 21 during the trial.
He said there’s no way jurors could ever know what Jean would have wanted, but “I think we all had to make a decision that we could live with and that our conscience could be sound with.”
Both jurors said they believed the state’s request of 28 years was too long.
“They were asking us to take an eye for an eye for Botham,” Juror 21 said, “and I feel like he isn’t someone who would take an eye for an eye. He would turn the other cheek.”
The jurors weren’t in court to hear a statement expressing forgiveness from Jean’s younger brother, Brandt Jean, but when the two interviewed jurors said they saw video of the 18-year-old, it made them even more confident in their decisions.
They also said in the ABC News interview that they made the decision to find Guyger guilty of murder immediately.
“All 12 of us said she was guilty probably within five minutes of being in there,” Juror 21 said.
They said that decision was based on Guyger’s intent to kill, which she admitted in her testimony.
“She said before she even went inside [the apartment], she made up her mind outside the door that she was going to kill the threat,” Juror 34 said.
Deciding how much time Guyger should spend in jail was more difficult, jurors told ABC News.
The jurors said making that choice was far more emotional than deciding guilt or innocence, according to ABC News.
“There was a lot of crying,” Juror 21 said.
“A lot of crying,” Juror 34 added.
In Texas, second-degree murder can carry a sentence of five to 99 years and even up to life in prison.
“It’s like we have somebody’s life in our hands that took somebody else’s life, taking away their whole life,” Juror 34 said.
Both jurors said they viewed the crime as a mistake, and Juror 34 said “10 years would be enough time for [Guyger] to get back out there and try to do something better with her life.”
