yg The off-duty officer, Amber Guyger, claimed to have accidentally entered Botham Jean’s apartment, where she shot and killed him, thinking he was an intruder.  Jean’s apartment was located one floor above Guyger’s in a Dallas apartment building.

The white police officer was sentenced to 10 years in prison.  The Dallas Morning News reports Guyger is the first Dallas police officer to be convicted of murder since the 1970s.  Outside the courtroom, Lee Merritt, a lawyer for Botham Jean’s family, welcomed the conviction.  He said: “This is a huge victory, not only for the family of Botham Jean, but, as his mother Allison told me a moment ago, this is a victory for Black people in America.  It’s a signal that the tide is going to change here.  Police officers are going to begin to be held accountable for their actions, and we believe that that will begin to change policing culture all over the world.”