On Monday, the judge in the trial of former Dallas police officer Amber Guyger added further controversy to the case. Specifically, Judge Tammy Kemp ruled that the jury could consider the “Castle Doctrine” defense that Guyger’s attorneys presented before resting their case over the weekend. The ex-cop is on trial for murder in the shooting death of 26-year-old accountant Botham “Bo” Jean in September of 2018. Guyger, now 31, busted into her neighbor’s apartment, where Jean was sitting on his own couch, eating ice cream, and shot him in the chest. Guyger claims that she mistook Jean’s apartment for her own and believed she was shooting an intruder.
Judge Kemp’s ruling is controversial because it allows for Texas’ version of a “Stand Your Ground” defense to be applied to the case, which may lessen the chance of conviction. The Texas Tribune asked local lawyers and firms about the general criteria a defendant is required to meet in order to use Senate Bill 378, known as the Castle Doctrine:
- They believed someone was on their property illegally.
- They reasonably believed the deadly force was immediately necessary.
- They did not provoke the person against which the deadly force was used.
- They weren’t engaged in criminal activity (other than a minor traffic offense) at the time the deadly force was used.
It is the first and last points that have been twisted, as Guyger was guilty of breaking into someone else’s apartment before shooting him. By allowing a jury to consider the Castle Doctrine during deliberations, the judge is somewhat accepting the fundamental premise that one can create a situation by their own actions, and then argue they are the victim of those actions. Assistant District Attorney Jason Fine told CNN that the Castle Doctrine is being used in the most upside-down way by Guyger’s defense team. "It protects homeowners against intruders and now all of a sudden, the intruder is trying to use it against the homeowner," Fine said. "This law is not in place for her, it's in place for Bo."
Guyger, according to evidence presented at the trial, walked past 16 apartments on the wrong floor of her apartment complex while engaged in explicit text messaging with her police partner. The two now admit they were carrying on an extramarital affair. Distracted, she entered Jean’s apartment instead of her own, and opened fire, shooting him once in the chest.
CBS DFW reports that the jury also can convict Guyger of manslaughter instead of murder. Prosecutors continue to push for the murder conviction. In closing arguments, Assistant District Attorney Jason Hermus explained that Guyger’s actions show that she made a decision to murder whoever was in the apartment, while she stood safely on the other side of Jean’s apartment. “She assumed it was an intruder. And she decided that she was going to engage him. That means she had options; deadly force wasn’t necessary.”
In all of this it’s easy to forget that Botham Jean was sitting in his own apartment, eating ice cream on his own couch, when a woman brandishing a gun burst into his apartment late at night and shot him in the chest. As he lay dying on the floor of his apartment, Guyger left the room and texted her partner, and testified that being left alone with him was “the scariest thing you can ever imagine.” The prosecution argued that Guyger did not attempt to administer any aid to Botham.
It would seem having someone burst into your home and murder you, and then leaving you to die on the floor alone, is considerably scarier.
The jury is set to continue deliberations Tuesday.