DALLAS (AP) - The Latest on the trial of a former Dallas police officer charged in the shooting death of her neighbor inside his apartment (all times local):
5:20 p.m.
A jury considering charges against a former Dallas police officer who fatally shot her upstairs neighbor in his apartment has paused deliberation.
Amber Guyger is charged with murder in the September 2018 killing of Botham Jean.
The jury can find Guyger guilty of murder, manslaughter or no crime. They deliberated Monday afternoon until 5p.m. and are expected to resume at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday.
The 31-year-old police officer was off-duty but still in uniform when she shot Jean in his apartment, which was directly above hers. Guyger testified that she mistook his apartment for her own and thought the 26-year-old accountant was an intruder.
Guyger was fired after the shooting.
The trial began Sept. 29.
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2:10 p.m.
A lawyer for the family of a man shot dead in his apartment by a Dallas police officer says the jury in the officer’s murder trial is weighing “the value of a black life.”
Closing arguments in Amber Guyger’s trial for killing Botham Jean in September 2018 finished Monday, and jurors are considering the case.
Guyger, who is white, was off duty but still in uniform when she shot Jean, who was black. She said she mistook his apartment for her own, on the floor below, and fired believing the 26-year-old accountant was an intruder.
Attorney Lee Merritt says trial evidence proves Guyger is guilty and that the jury will have to decide whether Jean’s life mattered.
Guyger was fired after the shooting. Her lawyers have argued her mistakes were reasonable.
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1:50 p.m.
A jury is deliberating the case of a Dallas police officer who fatally shot her unarmed neighbor in his apartment last year.
Closing arguments in the murder trial of Amber Guyger in the fatal shooting of Botham Jean were completed early Monday afternoon. The trial began a week ago.
Guyger testified last week that she mistook Jean’s apartment for her own after a long shift and that she believed he was a burglar. The 31-year-old Guyger has said she feared for her life.
She was in uniform but off duty at the time of the shooting. She was later fired from the force.
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12:30 p.m.
An attorney for a former Dallas police officer who fatally shot her unarmed neighbor in his apartment says her belief that she was killing an intruder in her own home was entirely reasonable.
Defense attorney Toby Shook said in closing arguments Monday that Amber Guyger’s shooting of Botham Jean last year was the result of “a series of horrible mistakes.” Guyger is charged with murder.
Guyger testified last week that she mistook Jean’s apartment for her own after a long shift and that she believed he was a burglar. Shook notes that other residents have made the same mistake and gone to the wrong apartments in that complex.
The 31-year-old Guyger has said she feared for her life.
Shook says Guyger opened fire after making a “split-second decision.”
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11:20 a.m.
A prosecutor at the murder trial of Dallas police officer who fatally shot her unarmed neighbor in his home says most of what she said in testimony last week was “garbage.”
Assistant District Attorney Jason Fine said in closing arguments Monday that Amber Guyger was “an intruder” in Botham Jean’s home.
Guyger testified last week that she mistook Jean’s apartment for her own after a long shift and believed he was a burglar. The 31-year-old said she feared for her life. Prosecutors say Jean was unarmed and eating a bowl of vanilla ice cream in his living room when Guyger shot him.
Fine says Guyger’s claim that she didn’t know she was in the wrong apartment is “absurd.” He says Guyger wasn’t thinking like a “reasonable person” that day.
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10:36 a.m.
Defense attorneys have rested their case in the murder trial of a Dallas police officer charged with killing her neighbor in his apartment.
Prosecutors and lawyers for Amber Guyger are expected to present closing arguments Monday. Guyger is accused of killing of Botham Jean last September.
Guyger testified last week that she mistook Jean’s apartment for her own after a long shift and believed he was a burglar. The 31-year-old said she feared for her life before entering the apartment where she shot Jean. Prosecutors say Jean was unarmed and eating a bowl of vanilla ice cream in his living room when Guyger shot him.
The two sides argued Monday morning over the language of the instructions the judge with provide to jurors as they begin to deliberate.
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