DALLAS – A white former Dallas police officer who said she fatally shot her unarmed, black neighbor after mistaking his apartment for her own was found guilty of murder on Tuesday.
A jury reached the verdict in Amber Guyger's high-profile trial for the killing of Botham Jean after six days of witness testimony but just a handful of hours of deliberation.
Cheers erupted in the courthouse as the verdict was announced, and someone yelled "Thank you, Jesus!"
In Texas, the sentence for murder is from five to 99 years in prison. The jury is expected to return Tuesday afternoon for the punishment phase of the trial.
The basic facts of the unusual shooting were not in dispute throughout the trial. In September 2018, Guyger walked up to Jean's apartment - which was on the fourth floor, directly above hers on the third - and found the door unlocked. She was off duty but still dressed in her police uniform after a long shift when she shot Jean with her service weapon. The 26-year-old accountant had been eating a bowl of ice cream before Guyger entered his home.
Jean, who grew up in the Caribbean island nation of St. Lucia, came to the U.S. for college and starting his career as an accountant. His shooting drew widespread attention because of the strange circumstances and because it was one in a string of shootings of unarmed black men by white police officers.
Related: Ex-Dallas cop testifies at her murder trial in neighbor's death
Guyger was arrested three days after the killing. She was later fired and charged with murder , but only spoke publicly about the shooting upon taking the witness stand last Friday. Tension has been high during the trial in Dallas, the same city where an attack three years ago killed five police officers.
The 31-year-old tearfully apologized for killing Jean and told the jurors she feared for her life upon finding the door to what she though was her apartment unlocked. Guyger said that Jean came toward her at a fast walk when she entered with her gun out, but prosecutors have suggested he was just rising from a couch toward the back of the room when the officer shot him.