The trial of Botham Jean’s murder ends in both protests and words of forgiveness

The trial of former Dallas police officer Amber Guyger in the death of her neighbor Botham Jean lasted about a week; and in that time, it drew heartache, remorse, love and protest.

Guyger was convicted of Jean’s murder on Tuesday, and then sentenced to 10 years in prison on Wednesday. She’ll be eligible for parole in five years. After the conclusion of a case that has become part of the national conversation around policing and violence against people of color, aerial images broadcast by CNN affiliate KTVT showed a group in the streets of Dallas protesting the sentence they saw as too light.

The NAACP President Aubrey C. Hooper said in a statement that the organization saw the sentence as inadequate, but prayed that Jean’s family could find some closure with the conviction.

But the trial brought pain before it could bring a powerful moment of forgivness. A video of Jean’s final moments as first responders worked to revive him from gunshot wounds was shown with his family in the courtroom. They left the room in sobs, and Judge Tammy Kemp said she didn’t think of the hurt it would cause his loved ones.

Then, Guyger took the stand to describe through tears the night she said she entered Jean’s apartment thinking it was her own and shot the man she thought was an intruder. She said she wished she had been the one killed instead.

While testifying at her sentencing, Jean’s brother, 18-year-old Brandt, stepped down to offer her love and a hug.

“I don’t even want you to go to jail,” he told Guyger. “I want the best for you. Because I know that’s exactly Botham would want you to do.”

The final day of the trial was loaded with emotional moments. From Botham Jean’s best friend describing him as her “absolute person” to his father openly weeping on the witness stand; from a fellow officer describing Guyger’s acts of selflessness to a former cocaine addict attributing her recovery to Guyger, it was a difficult day from beginning to end. Family and friends sought to shine a light on a life that was lost and another that was destroyed.

‘What’s really in her heart’

In closing arguments, prosecutors and defense split on whether this was a case of a woman with prejudice or a public servant who made a terrible mistake.

Prosecutors honed in on Guyger’s controversial text messages and Pinterest activity.

“They show what’s really in her heart,” one prosecutor told the jury. She argued texts illustrated how Guyger was “mocking” the death of Martin Luther King, Jr. while lamenting how long she had to work a MLK Day parade.

Prosecutor LaQuita Long ended with text on a screen from one of Botham Jean’s pastors, who said recently: “To the defendant, he was just a silhouette in a room. To everyone who knew Botham, he was the brightest light in the room.” It was a reference to Guyger’s testimony, when she described seeing Jean in his apartment for the first time, saying she only saw a silhouette.

The defense urged the jury to look at Guyger’s life as whole — her years-long dream of becoming a police officer and how she “put her life on the line every day” at work — rather than snap shots of life through texts or social media comments.

Attorney Toby Shook acknowledged there have been police shootings in which police get off when they shouldn’t have, but he asked the jury not to bring their opinions into the deliberations.

“This case is not those cases,” he said. “This event wasn’t planned,” he said. “This was so unique, you’ll never see it again.”

The sentence

For the sentence, prosecutors had urged the jury to choose no fewer than 28 years, the age Jean would have turned on Sunday. The defense team asked them to consider Guyger’s life and service as a police officer.

A choice between five and 99 years or life in prison took the jurors less than 90 minutes to make.

The room was silent when the judge announced the jury chose a 10-year sentence. After the jury left, the Jean family sat silently, almost shell-shocked. The prosecution team also largely sat quietly, looking surprised themselves. Guyger was quickly escorted away.

Shouts of “no justice, no peace” could be heard in the hallway. Protesters were pushed back away from the courtroom farther down a hallway, and Guyger’s family was escorted out a secure pathway.

Lead prosecutor Jason Hermus walked over to the Jean family in the silent, mostly empty courtroom after the sentence.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I can’t explain that.”

Jean’s father shook his hand. “You fought a good fight.”

‘This is where you start’

Brandt wasn’t the only one who sought to comfort Guyger.

In another shocking moment, Judge Tammy Kemp — who gained national attention for her strict and stern style in the courtroom — also approached Guyger. She brought her Bible.

“You can have mine. I have three or four more at home,” she said. “This is the one I use every day. This is your job for the next month. It says right here. John 3:16. And this is where you start. ‘For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life…'”

Allison Jean talked to reporters about her hope for Guyger’s sentence in her son’s murder.

“That 10 years in prion is 10 years for her reflection and for her to change her life,” she said.