The murder trial of ex-Dallas police officer Amber Guyger, 31, was set to begin on Monday, but first prosecutors wanted to introduce evidence showing that the defendant was sexting her police partner shortly before she shot and killed her neighbor Botham Shem Jean, 26. The state said it’s relevant to their case because it showed her state of mind during the incident, and how her attention might have been diverted leading up to the tragedy. The long and short of it is: Was Guyger reasonable in failing to know her whereabouts, and failing to notice signs that she was on the wrong floor of the apartment building?
Prosecutors say that Guyger returned to her apartment complex after a work shift on Sept. 6, 2018. She lived on the third floor, but parked on the fourth, anded up walking to Jean’s apartment. According to police, she opened the door–which was already slightly ajar–and confronted the victim, believing he was a burglar in her apartment. She pulled out her gun, giving Jean a verbal command. He didn’t listen and she opened fire twice, striking him once in the torso, she said, according to cops. During the 911 call, however, Guyger apparently realized that she had made a mistake. She was the intruder, and this was Jean’s apartment. Guyger was on the wrong floor of the apartment building.
“I’m going to lose my job. I thought it was my apartment,” she said. “Hey bud. Hey bud. Hey bud. Come on. Oh fuck. I thought it was my apartment.”
The partner is expected to testify, prosecutors said in court on Monday. They argued that if texts were taken at face value, then there was a plan to get together later that evening. Prosecutors said they will go into detail about the relationship.
The defense, in general, is trying to limit the number of texts revealed at trial. For example, these include messages between Guyger and her sister. The state said they would have to rely on these in order to help identify Guyger as the writer of the texts if the defense tried to argue that the authorship of certain messages was in doubt.
[Screengrab via Kaufman County Jail]