Amber Guyger Jury Deliberating Over 3 Options: Murder, Manslaughter Or Not Guilty

CBS Dallas/Fort Worth wrote:

DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) – There was no verdict Monday from the jury in the Amber Guyger murder trial after more than five hours of deliberations.

The jury had the option to deliberate into the evening, but around 5:00 p.m. they decided to retire for the night.

Judge Tammy Kemp has given the jurors three options: A guilty verdict for murder, a guilty verdict for manslaughter or a not guilty verdict.

The day started with Guyger’s defense attorneys and the prosecution getting a final chance to make one last pitch to the jury during closing arguments.

“Amber Guyger spent her life trying to do the right thing,” said defense attorney Robert Rodgers.

“She is not a reasonable person,” said Dallas County Assistant DA Jason Fine. “She was not thinking like a reasonable person that day.”

Prosecutors argued the former police officer ignored warnings that she was walking into the wrong apartment on the wrong floor and ignored police policy when she shot and killed Botham Jean thinking he had broken into her apartment.

“She became the aggressor,” said Dallas County Assistant DA Jason Hermus. “That’s not self-defense.”

But defense attorneys say prosecutors did nothing to dispel Guyger’s account that the shooting was a mistake.

They warned the jury not to dwell on the affair Guyger had with her patrol partner or whether she tried to give Jean proper medical attention after she shot him.

“Everything they’ve done has been trying to distract you,” said Rodgers.

Defense Attorney Toby Shook said, “The state is responsible for approving beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant did not make the mistake of fact they can’t overcome the burden of proof in this case.”

Guyger was able to offer the jury emotional testimony during the trial.

Prosecutors reminded the jury that Botham Jean could not.

“This is all I can bring in. Mr. Jean can’t come into the court room and appeal to your sympathy or to your emotion he’s been reduced to a cardboard photograph,” said Hermus.