Former Dallas police officer Amber Guyger claims self-defense as apartment mix-up murder trial begins.
The trial of a white former Dallas police officer who fatally shot an unarmed black man when she mistook his apartment for her own got underway Monday with a prosecutor telling a jury the officer fired first without making any effort to de-escalate the situation and a defense attorney countering that the exhausted officer made"innocent mistakes" that led her to fear for her life.
In his opening argument, Dallas County Assistant District Attorney Jason Hermus told the jurors that Jean, an accountant for the international auditing firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, was"a wonderful, decent man" and showed the jury a large photo of a smiling Jean posing while dressed in a sweater. "No opportunity for de-escalation, no opportunity for him to surrender. Bang, bang. Rapid," Hermus told the jury.
He said Guyger's apartment was directly beneath Jean's fourth-floor unit. Not only did Guyger mistakenly park on the wrong floor of the complex, she walked down a long hallway, passing 16 different apartments but failed to realize she was not headed to her front door, Hermus said. Defense attorney Robert Rogers told the jury in his opening argument that Guyger was exhausted from working 40 hours in four days, including a long overtime shift helping a SWAT team arrest three robbers.
He described the configuration of the South Side Flats apartment complex, where Guyger had lived for about two months, as"a confusing place" with floors in the parking garage and apartment doors not clearly marked. He painted the picture of Guyger entering the apartment and seeing the figure of a large individual inside coming toward her, yelling,"Hey! Hey!' and drowning out her orders for him to show her his hands."She reacts like any police officer would who has a gun when confronting a burglary suspect," Rogers said.
"Anytime you bring a case against a police officer it's difficult anywhere in the country because there's so much automatic credibility given to law enforcement officers," Merritt told ABC News on Sunday."We're hoping to see a diverse jury that's able to critically analyze testimony from law enforcement officers."
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Prosecutors reveal Amber Guyger was on phone with partner before shooting neighborGuyger was in a sexual relationship with her partner on the Dallas police force, and the pair were on the phone on the night of the 2018 shooting, prosecutors said.
Read more »
Amber Guyger, the former Dallas officer who shot Botham Jean in his own apartment, goes on trial this weekThe murder trial of a former Dallas police officer who killed a 26-year-old black accountant in his own apartment will start on Monday
Read more »
Love Island's Amber Gill tells Greg O'Shea he's welcome to his £25,000 winningsThe Irishman brutally dumped her after scooping the prize having been in the villa for less than two weeks
Read more »
Love Island's Amber Gill tells Greg O'Shea what he can do with his £25k winningsThe Irishman brutally dumped her after scooping the prize having been in the villa for less than two weeks
Read more »
Love Island's Amber Gill says split from Greg O’Shea was 'blessing in disguise'The 22-year-old Geordie babe says she's 'disappointed' in her ex but is looking to the future
Read more »
Pompeo accuses former U.S. Vice President Biden of corruption over Ukraine dust-upU.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Sunday accused President Donald Trump&03...
Read more »