“It was unreasonable — she should’ve known she was in the wrong apartment … that is garbage.” – Assistant District Attorney’s comments about Amber Guyger’s testimony
Amber Guyger, the former Dallas police officer, who shot and killed Botham Jean after entering his apartment, was convicted of murder. And people are shocked. Not because she didn’t deserve to be convicted, but because so often when the victim is black or brown, and the murderer deserves to be convicted, they’re often acquitted and allowed to return to their normal everyday lives. People are so used to seeing people literally get away with murder, that when the person is convicted they have to pause and reflect on how good justice feels. When you’re conditioned for a certain result or outcome, you’re taken aback when that result is different, especially when the expected result is negative.
When the verdict was announced, we heard stories of people taking a moment from work to cry, to call their close friends, and just rejoice that for once justice was reached when in similar cases it’s usually not. And that’s unfortunate, yet that’s the reality and culture of the criminal justice system in America. Acquittals are expected when the defendant suggests they were in “fear of their life.” That seems to be the go-to line for all murderers, especially when the victim is black, brown, and unarmed. Can’t blame them, because it works. No matter the evidence or who escalated it… even when it’s egregious like George Zimmerman playing neighborhood cop and following Trayvon Martin despite the dispatcher telling him not to. Entering someone’s apartment and then crying wolf after you murder them falls along the same lines of bizarre and extremely odd, but unlike Zimmerman, Guyger was found guilty.
Botham Jean is never coming back, and that’s a tragedy. But at least this time his family and community can find solace in the fact that justice was served in the form of a conviction.
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