When Amber Guyger’s murder trial begins a week from Monday, the jury won’t be deciding whether she killed Botham Jean.
The fact that she pulled the trigger isn’t in dispute. Jurors instead must decide whether killing the unarmed 26-year-old accountant in his own apartment was a crime. And if so, what crime?
Guyger’s attorneys are expected to argue that she isn’t guilty of a crime because she made a “mistake of fact,” meaning she believed something to be true but it wasn’t.
The Dallas officer, who has since been fired, told police that she confused Jean’s apartment at the South Side Flats for her own on the night of Sept. 6, 2018, and she mistook Jean for a burglar.
But Guyger can’t just say she made a mistake and be found not guilty, legal experts said. The jury must believe her mistake was reasonable. And that leads to more questions.
The “mistake of fact” defense might be unfamiliar outside legal circles, but it’s an argument used often in Dallas courts and nationwide, Dallas defense attorney Russell Wilson said.
“Mistake of fact is the same thing that you’re hearing when you hear the police say, ‘We thought he had a gun,’” Wilson said.
A gag order by state District Judge Tammy Kemp prevents both the defense and prosecutors from speaking to the media about the case. But before that order was in place, one of Guyger’s attorneys said he did not believe the law supported a murder conviction because his client made a mistake.
“Two innocent lives have been forever changed,” Robert Rogers said after Guyger was indicted in November.
“I feel for Botham Jean’s family, and I can’t imagine the pain they are going through. But when you look at the law, this was a tragic mistake.”
It’s uncertain whether Guyger will testify at her trial. Defendants don’t have to testify and jurors are told they shouldn’t factor that in while deliberating.
Read the rest here: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/crime/2019/09/16/how-will-amber-guyger-s-attorneys-defend-her-in-murder-trial-for-killing-botham-jean/
“I feel for Botham Jean’s family, and I can’t imagine the pain they are going through. But when you look at the law, this was a tragic mistake.”
YOU DONT “KNOW” THAT….. NOW DO YOU?
THIS SHIT WENT TO TRIAL AFTER AN INCOMPLETE, SHODDY INVESTIGATION…….