The mother of Amber Guyger, 31, on Wednesday told the court that her daughter, the since-fired Dallas police officer convicted of murder on Tuesday, was molested as a child.
WATCH the testimony in the player above.
During Wednesday’s sentencing hearing in front of Texas State District Judge Tammy Kemp, Karen Guyger, 66, testified that in 1995, her then-boyfriend Joseph Ortiz molested Amber when Amber was only six years old.
Answering questions from defense counsel, Karen Guyger confirmed that on the morning of February 25, 1995, she learned that Ortiz had been sexually molesting Amber and immediately proceeded to call the Arlington Police Department to her house.
A visibly emotional Karen Guyger then attempted to recount what she saw that morning.
“I was going back to the bedroom — I was fixing to take a shower and I had forgotten my comb — and that’s when I saw him coming out of the bedroom. Then Amber came out,” she said, fighting back tears.
“As a result of some conversation you had with Joe and also with Amber, the police were summoned to your house, is that correct?” the attorney asked. “Yes,” Karen Guyger responded.
She also confirmed that Ortiz was arrested and pleaded guilty to charges of indecency with a child with Amber being the named victim in the case.
Karen Guyger also described Amber as a sweet child who “loved going outside all the time and made friends real quick.”
A jury on Tuesday morning found Amber Guyger guilty of murder for the death of her upstairs neighbor Botham Jean, 26.
At trial, Guyger’s attorneys insisted that Jean’s death was an honest and reasonable mistake, arguing that both the defendant and victim lived in similar units in the same apartment complex. Jean lived one floor above Guyger. Guyger said she mistook Jean’s apartment for hers after working overtime and believed he was an intruder. She said she shot him out of fear for her safety and testified that she intended to kill him when she pulled the trigger.
The sentencing hearing, which began Tuesday afternoon, included text messages which showed that Guyger joked about the death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and made racially incendiary remarks about black police officers, saying they have a “different way of working.”
Brooklyn Homicide Public Defender and Law&Crime Network host Brian G. Buckmire on Tuesday evening said it was “the roughest sentencing” he had “ever seen.”
[Image and video via the Law&Crime Network.]