Did murder defendant and former police officer Amber Guyger do whatever she could in trying to save 26-year-old neighbor Botham Shem Jean after she shot him in his apartment? The state got a chance to press Guyger on that when she took the stand on Friday.
“Other than with just one hand periodically–with interruptions–doing some compressions, did you really do anything else to try and help Mr. Jean?” prosecutor Jason Hermus said.
“A sternum rub,” she said. This testimony established that this was a technique in which the fist was used to rub the sternum. She did it in order to keep Jean breathing, she said.
Hermus said in opening statements that, in the aftermath of the shooting, the defendant was more concerned with herself than with the dying victim, and that she didn’t even try to console him in his final moments.
The prosecutor pressed Guyger on cross-examination as to whether she used all of the tools at her disposal. He pointed out she had first aid tools in her backpack. This included combat gauze, which was meant to address significant bleeding.
Guyger said she didn’t recall much blood. The prosecutor said, however, she was able to tell the responding officers where Jean had been shot.
The defendant said it didn’t cross her mind to use the combat gauze. Hermus also pointed out another pack of gauze dressing intended for “bleeding control.”
Guyger killed Jean after accidentally entering his apartment while believing it was hers, and mistaking him for an intruder, said the defense. She testified during direct examination that she shot Jean while believing he was a threat to her. Her defense is trying to show that what she did was a reasonable mistake under the law.
Prosecutors are attempting to use Guyger’s status as police officer against her, however. Their position is that her training meant she should’ve known better before escalating the situation, shooting Jean, and engaging in an apparently half-hearted attempt to address his fatal wound.
[Screengrab via Law&Crime Network]