Former Dallas police officer Amber Guyger was ordered by a jury to pay the family of Botham Jean $98 million after finding she used excessive force in 2018, resulting in Jean being killed in his home.
Guyger’s penalty and civil verdict came five years after she was sentenced to 10 years in prison. The jury of her peers found the former officer acted with “malice, willfulness, or callous and reckless indifference” to the victim’s safety and rights, resulting in a $60 million award in punitive damages. Thirty-eight million was added on for compensatory damages for mental anguish, loss of earnings, and other claims.
Initially, Jean’s family fought for $54 million in
damages; however, they called the new verdict a “powerful testament to Botham’s life and the profound injustice of his death. This case laid bare critical issues of racial bias and police accountability that cannot be ignored,” the family said in the statement.“Today’s verdict sends a clear message that law enforcement officers who commit crimes cannot be insulated from the consequences of their actions.”
The case made national headlines after Guyger mistakenly entered Jean’s apartment, believing it was hers, which was one floor below after working a 13 ½ hour shift on Sept. 6. Jean was sitting in his living room eating a bowl of vanilla ice cream when Guyger ordered him to raise his hands. During her criminal trial, she testified that he began to move toward her and started yelling. “I never wanted to take an innocent person’s life. I’m so sorry,” Guyger testified at the time.
“This is not about hate — it’s about being scared.”
According to Kera News, Guyger was not present at the civil hearing. She claimed she was limited on funds to afford an attorney and waived her right to be there. The decision did not go over too well with Jean’s family or their legal representatives, as attorney Daryl Washington called her absence an “insult.” Guyger’s attorneys failed to explain how their client would pay for
damages while she rides out the rest of her sentence, but the family says it’s more about accountability than money. “We want to make sure when Amber Guyger is released from prison that Amber Guyger is not going to have a life,” Washington said.“She’s not going to have a normal life. She’s not going to be able to capitalize on any fame that she may have gotten from this case.”
Jean established a home in Dallas after coming from the island of St. Lucia. He worked as an accountant for PricewaterhouseCoopers with aspirations of becoming a partner in the future. His mother, Allison Jean, says his legacy will live on through a foundation in his name
. “He came to Dallas, a city which he loved, but Dallas was unkind to him,” his mother said.“And so what I would like to leave with you is find out from your city how valuable each and every one of you is because they need to demonstrate that value by the laws that they have, how they treat their people.”
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