Attorneys for Amber Guyger, the former Dallas police officer who in 2018 fatally shot a 26-year-old Black man in his own apartment, have filed an appeal against her murder conviction.
Guyger’s attorneys are requesting an acquittal for Botham Jean’s murder, for which their client was sentenced last year to 10 years in prison. They have also asked that she be charged instead with a lesser crime of criminally negligent homicide, CBS reported.
“Her mistaken belief negated the culpability for murder because although she intentionally and knowingly caused Jean’s death, she had the right to act in deadly force in self-defense since her belief that deadly force was immediately necessary was reasonable under the circumstances,” the appeal stated.
Guyger’s attorneys argue in the appeal that evidence originally submitted in the case “was legally insufficient to prove beyond reasonable doubt” that Guyger, 32, who is white, committed murder since she was confused about her location, as the third and fourth floors where her and Jean’s apartments were located look identical.
Meanwhile, “after admitting her crime and asking Botham Jean’s family for mercy — Guyger’s actions in filing this appeal reflect someone who is not repentant but instead was hoping to play on the families sympathies at the time that they were most vulnerable,” attorney S. Lee Merrit said in a statement Friday, CNN reported.
