News Americas, DALLAS, TX, Mon. Sept. 23, 2019: The murder trial of a white former Dallas police officer who shot and killed a Caribbean immigrant in his own apartment in Dallas, Texas, opens today, Sept. 23rd.
Amber Guyger shot and killed 26-year-old St. Lucian immigrant Botham Shem Jean on Sept. 6, 2018 after she entered his apartment which she said she thought was her own. She claims she shot him because she thought he was a burglar.
Jury selection began earlier this month, one year to the date of the slaying of Jean, who was an up-and-coming associate at PriceWaterhouseCoopers in Dallas.
Guyger, then an off-duty police officer and four-year veteran of the Dallas Police Department, was initially charged with manslaughter three days after the shooting but in November, she was indicted on a murder charge by a grand jury.
She has admitted to the shooting but claims it was an accident and has pleaded not guilty to murder.
Jean’s mother, Allison Jean, 52, told CNN: “My hope for the trial is for my son to get justice … that the person who inflicted harm on him gets punished for the crime that she committed.”
