Ex-Dallas officer ordered to pay Botham Jean's family $98M after 2018 fatal shooting
Botham Jean, 26, was fatally shot in his apartment by Amber Guyger, an off-duty Dallas police officer, in 2018.
A federal jury on Wednesday ordered a former Dallas police officer to pay nearly $100 million to the family of a man she fatally shot in his apartment in 2018.
Amber Guyger is serving a 10-year sentence for the murder of Botham Jean, a 26-year-old Black man who lived in the same building. At the murder trial, Guyger testified that she returned from an extended police shift and incorrectly believed she had entered her apartment and thought Jean was an intruder.
She was later fired from the Dallas Police Department after the shooting.
After closing arguments Wednesday, a jury concluded Guyger had used excessive force in fatally shooting Jean and acted under the color of law, ordering her to pay a total of $98.6 million to Jean's estate and his parents, Allison and Bertrum Jean, including $60 million in punitive damages.
Daryl Washington, the family's attorney, told Paste BN the jury decision "sends a message loud and clear that police brutality is not going to be accepted."
"I think whenever verdicts like this come out, it has a potential of saving lives," Washington said. "It's going to really force a police officer to think deep and long before they decide to use deadly force in a situation where it's not justifiable."
Wednesday’s verdict comes as the U.S. approaches the end of what could be a record year for killings by police. The Mapping Police Violence project has documented 1,059 fatalities so far in 2024. The group has been tracking police killings since 2013, and the death toll reached a record high last year at 1,248 fatalities.
Mapping Police Violence data also highlights a racial disparity in police violence, noting that Black Americans accounted for 27% of people killed by law enforcement last year even though they made up 13% of the nation.
What happened to Botham Jean?
On the night of Sept. 6, 2018, Jean was sitting on the couch eating ice cream when his upstairs neighbor walked through his apartment door and pulled out her gun.
Guyger had driven home in her police uniform after working a 13-hour patrol shift, according to the civil complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas. She has claimed self-defense, saying she went on the wrong building floor, accidentally entered Jean’s apartment thinking it was hers, and mistook him for an intruder.
The off-duty officer drew her weapon and began "issuing verbal commands" immediately after entering Jean's apartment, according to court filings, citing her interview with Texas Rangers. Jean “attempted to comply,” the complaint said, and slowly stood.
Guyger shot Jean in the chest with her service weapon, "without any lawful justification," the lawsuit said, noting Jean was unarmed, not attempting to hurt anyone, and in his own home.
After shooting Jean, Guyger continued to yell verbal commands while he asked why she had shot him. The complaint said Guyger called 911 and her attorney, and did not render medical aid to Jean.
Guyger opted to represent herself in the lawsuit.
Family seeks police accountability
Jean’s family had also included Dallas in the October 2018 complaint, but Judge Barbara M. G. Lynn dismissed the city from the lawsuit.
The complaint said the Dallas Police Department and Dallas City Council failed to implement and enforce policies that “respected Jean’s constitutional rights.” Guyger had testified that she was trained to believe that if she couldn’t see a suspect's hands, they were a threat, and she shot Jean based on that training, the complaint said.
Nick Starling, a spokesperson for the city of Dallas, reiterated in an email to Paste BN that Dallas had been dismissed from the lawsuit after the court "determined that the city is not liable for Amber Guyger’s actions."
Washington, managing partner at Dallas-based Washington Law Firm, said after the verdict the city and police department should be held responsible for the role they played.
"I think what this case truly highlights is the need for reform," Washington said.
(This story was updated because an earlier version included an inaccuracy.)