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Dallas Officer Amber Guyger's trial for the murder of Botham Shem Jean begins (FOUND GUILTY)

https://www.dallasnews.com/news/dal...ion-budget-includes-pay-hikes-police-officers

Dallas' new $1.3-billion budget includes pay hikes for police officers

The Dallas City Council on Tuesday approved a budget that includes substantial pay raises for public safety workers, rookies and veterans alike.

The final vote on the $1.3-billion general fund budget — taken in the shadow of the fatal shooting of Botham Jean by a uniformed off-duty officer — bumps starting pay for police officers and fire-rescue workers to $60,000. That is well over the $51,688 City Manager T.C. Broadnax originally proposed when he unveiled the budget in August. Police officers and fire-rescue workers hired within the last four years, at starting salaries closer to $49,000, will also see their pay raised to the new starting point.

Public safety workers currently making more than $60,000 will also get a 3-percent across-the-board raise.

As it did two weeks ago during a budget workshop, the council overwhelmingly supported an amendment originally submitted by Lake Highlands' council representative Adam McGough, who chairs the council's Public Safety and Criminal Justice Committee. Council members hope the new starting salary levels will stop recruits from going to the better-paying suburbs once they've trained in Dallas.

Only Mayor Mike Rawlings and North Dallas' Lee Kleinman voted in opposition Wednesday morning. White Rock Lake's council representative Mark Clayton was absent when the roll was called.

Rawlings has been opposed to the massive jump in pay because he, like Broadnax, believes the $60,000 starting salary puts City Hall at a disadvantage during coming pay negotiations with the police associations, known as meet-and-confer. The current agreement expires at the end of September next year.

City Hall was prepared for a protest like the one that disrupted last week's council meetings: Police cars lined the basement and City Hall Plaza, and security was beefed up in the briefing room. But a last-second shift by the mayor's office to move the budget vote to the morning, before a Fair Park management briefing, likely halted any protest.

Next Generation Action Network founder Dominique Alexander, who has been leading recent marches in downtown Dallas, said after the budget vote there were a few protesters waiting inside the council briefing chambers. But a majority of the open-mic speakers were there to support spending $500,000 on a climate study, which will be funded out of the $1.1 million collected during the five months in 2015 Dallas collected plastic-bag fees.

Kleinman was, in the end, the loudest voice in opposition Tuesday. He expressed strong objections to the raise for police officers. The council member referred to the shooting of Jean in his own apartment by Officer Amber Guyger as "a horrible and horrifying incident in the Cedars," and said now was not the time for pay raises.

Guyger, who told authorities she mistook Jean's apartment for her own and thought he was an intruder, has been charged with manslaughter. Protests demanding her firing and a murder charge and pleas for answers have marked the days since the shooting.

"In a time right now when our community is really hurting, when our community is in the streets asking for justice, it just does not seem appropriate to reward that kind of behavior with an increase across the board," said Kleinman, who has long had an antagonistic relationship with public safety employee groups, especially Dallas Police Association leadership.

"Colleagues, it's shameful," he said. "We're now at yet another crossroads between who do we support as a council: our community, our citizens, our taxpayers, our residents or the union bosses who take advantage of a [coming] mayoral election and council election and take advantage of this council."

Mike Mata, president of the Dallas Police Association, didn't attend Tuesday's meeting because, he said later, he didn't want to be a "distraction" in case there were protests. But he chided Kleinman for his comments, insisting he was "stomping his feet in a child-like manner" because he was going to lose the budget vote.

"It's very unfortunate when you have elected officials that misuse their platform to bring public safety down," said police officer Gracie Hernandez, who represents the southwest division for the DPA. "Kleinman manipulated a tragedy to express his dislike for police publicly."
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Only in AmeriKKKa...
 
https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/s...pd-general-orders-say-otherwise/287-596185930

Chief: She can't fire Amber Guyger over Botham Jean right away. DPD general orders say otherwise

Chief Renee Hall said federal and state laws prevent her from firing Guyger right away for the shooting death of Botham Jean. But it was unclear what those laws are.

The public still has a lot of questions about the shooting death of Botham Jean, including: Why has Dallas police officer Amber Guyger not been fired?

That issue was brought up Tuesday night at a town hall meeting at Paul Quinn College, where Chief Renee Hall took questions from the audience and asked for patience and trust.

Community members asked why the Jean case – in which Guyger fatally shot the 26-year-old in his apartment, saying she mistook the unit for her own – was transferred to the Texas Rangers and why Guyger was not arrested the day Jean was killed.

Hall asked the community to be patient and to allow investigators to do a complete investigation, including talking to more potential witnesses. She said the community talks about not trusting DPD and then criticizing the move to bring in an outside agency.

But it was clear there was a lot of frustration, and attendees still wanted to know why Guyger has not been fired. "I can’t do that because there are both local, state and federal laws that prohibit me from taking action," Hall said. "There are civil service laws we have to adhere to.”

Justin Moore, a civil rights attorney was a panelist at the meeting and was surprised by the Chief's comments. "I was completely mystified, and I really didn't understand where it came from last night. It seemed like Chief Hall might not have been well informed on the law,” said Moore.

The Dallas Police Department general orders do allow the chief to take action, saying, "The Chief of Police may circumvent all formal disciplinary procedures to render an immediate decision when it deems it necessary to preserve the integrity of the department.”

The general orders are the policies that officers have to follow and are governed by within the department.

It was unclear what laws chief Hall was referring to, but she promised she would release copies of the laws.

Police chiefs across the state and in Dallas have fired officers under criminal investigation. An internal investigation is typically conducted, but the chief can order that process to be expedited.

Officer Guyger is allowed due process which means an internal investigation is typically conducted.

The Dallas Police Department has fired other officers while under criminal investigation including Amy Wilburn who shot a man in his car and Cardan Spencer who shot a mentally ill man standing in street. "There is nothing that prevents a police chief from firing somebody on the spot or at least launching an internal affairs investigation,” said Moore.

Dallas County District Attorney Faith Johnson who now has the criminal case said it’s up to DPD to make firing decisions. She says her public integrity unit is focused on gathering evidence to give to a grand jury. "I am committed to getting to the truth. We will get to the truth, and the truth will be presented to the grand jury in this case,” said Johnson.

WFAA asked the Dallas Police Department the laws Chief Hall mentioned. They did not provide us with any.

They did provide us with the same general order we mentioned in our story and added. “General order 508 refers to the Police Chief’s ability to circumvent the formal disciplinary procedures not the investigative process.”

They also provided a copy of the city’s civil service rules. WFAA asked Dallas Police if the Chief has launched an internal affairs investigation. They did not respond to that.

Editor’s note: In response to the previous headline in this story "Dallas chief says she can't fire Amber Guyger over Botham Jean, but DPD general orders say otherwise," Dallas police shared this answer to a community member’s question and to why Officer Guyger had not been fired: The question from the community member was: “we want to know why this woman has not been fired, can you at least tell us that?”

Chief Hall responded: “Because of federal, state, and local laws surrounding our force and the police officer. Civil service laws, there are things we have to do as an agency that are required. I can’t just supersede policy just because people want me to.”
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StringerBell said:
https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/s...pd-general-orders-say-otherwise/287-596185930
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In other words, more police fuck shit. Lemme find out dude had dirt on the department and this was an organized hit. In all seriousness, this makes the entire DPD look bad. I know there are good men and women working there, but when police departments do blatant fuck shit like this it destroys any good will those good officers earn in those communities.

There is literally no reason on Earth this is even a debate. I can't walk into someone's house, shoot the owner dead, walk off for three days, say I went to the wrong apartment, and there be a debate about whether I need to be brought up on murder charges let alone get bail AND paid leave from my job. You can't work at McDonald's and do this without the company firing the shit out of you.

BUT... you can as a police officer? Word?
 
Civil service laws bullshit. She don't want the fop on her ass. Plain and simple.

All this be patient and remain peaceful shit would only be understandable if these situations didn't happen every fucking week. This is powder keg shit.
 
IP360 said:
They can't charge her wit 1st degree...UNLESS something comes out that they had a personal relationship, and this killing was intentional.

Over charging and you'll run the risk of her gettin off Scott free.
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Texas has killed a woman before for home invasion and execution
 
IP360 said:
They can't charge her wit 1st degree...UNLESS something comes out that they had a personal relationship, and this killing was intentional.

Over charging and you'll run the risk of her gettin off Scott free.
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There is really no such thing as over charging unless the person is tried on that single charge.

What is done in a lot of civilian trials is a person is charged with 1st degree murder and everything in between all they way down to simple assault. So basically the prosecution always believes something within all those charges is going to stick. So based on the requirements for murder I a person might beat that charge but the state proved the requirements for a murder II charge and get a guilty verdict on that particular charge.

So I get what you saying that if the state went with murder I as the lone charge that would be looked at as a over charge because it would be hard to prove the premeditation so if found not guilty on that single charge the cop would walk away free.

Need to find out what the state is exactly charging her with to see if they are even coming close to treating her like they would the average person.
 
https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/i...er-dallas-cop-kills-botham-jean/287-595990958

'I’m so sorry’: 911 call reveals confusion after Dallas cop kills Botham Jean

"I'm so sorry," Guyger said repeatedly, according to the two sources. She told the 911 operator how tired she was and said, "How did I do that?" as she tried to figure out how she got into the wrong apartment, the sources told WFAA.


“I thought it was my apartment.”

Those are the words Officer Amber Guyger says dozens of times in a 911 call moments after fatally shooting Botham Jean in his own apartment at the South Side Flats on Sept. 6, according to two sources with knowledge of the investigation.

The two sources described details of the 911 call to WFAA and details about the investigation on the condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the media.

“I’m so sorry,” Guyger said repeatedly, according to the two sources. She told the 911 operator how tired she was and said, “How did I do that?” as she tried to figure out how she got into the wrong apartment, the sources said.

An arrest warrant affidavit, obtained by the Texas Rangers and released last week, revealed that Gugyer was on the phone with 911 when she flipped on the lights and realized she was in the wrong apartment.

“The desperation in her voice is awful,” one of the sources said.

Botham’s controversial death ignited protests and calls for Guyger’s arrest and firing. She was arrested on a charge of manslaughter on Sept. 9. She is currently out on a $300,000 bond and has been placed on administrative leave.

Guyger, 30, and Jean, 26, lived one floor apart – she on the third floor in apartment 1378 and he on the fourth floor in 1478. They did not know each other. She had only lived in the complex for a few weeks.

That day, Guyger worked a 13.5 hour shift, her work day beginning around 8 a.m. and ending around 9:30 p.m. It’s not clear how many hours she had worked that work week.

Gugyer, still in her police uniform, arrived at the complex and parked on the fourth floor around 10 p.m., according to the arrest warrant affidavit. She walked into the building and walked down to the fourth floor to what she thought was her apartment.

The sources say Jean’s laptop was open as if he was working. Investigators believe he was sitting on the couch but stood up when the door opened.

The door was not locked, sources say. It was ajar as it looked basically closed, but wasn’t latched.

The leasing agents had checked out a noise complaint around 6:30 p.m. Investigators have theorized that perhaps the door didn’t shut all the way afterward.

“When she put pressure on the door, inserting her key, it opened,” one of the sources said.

The door opening and hearing someone inside made her think an intruder was in her apartment, the sources said. Guyger told investigators that she and Jean exchanged words but she could not recall exactly what was said, they said.

Guyger told investigators, according to the arrest warrant, that she saw a large silhouette from across the room. She pulled her gun, gave verbal commands and fired when the commands were ignored. She fired her handgun two times, striking Jean, the warrant said.

On the first responding officer’s body cam, Guyger’s key was still in the door and she pushed it open to show them where an injured Jean lie, the sources said. Jean was found in the living room – about 12 to 15 feet away from the front door.

Her heavy vest – the gear that officers carry to protect themselves against rifle rounds – was above his head as if she knelt down next to him to assess his injury and dropped her vest, the sources said.

Jean, an accountant, was later pronounced dead at a local hospital.

Two fired shell casings were just inside the doorway, which is consistent with her story that she fired from doorway, the sources said.

The floors and the units in the building all look the same. Investigators have found other tenants who have had random people walk into their apartment in the same manner, the sources said.

Last week, investigators with the Dallas County District Attorney’s office seized the door locks from both of their apartments and downloaded data from both door locks, according to inventory returns.

Investigators collected additional evidence from Jean’s apartment including conducting firearms trajectory measurements and gunshot residue from the doorframe and kitchen of Jean’s apartment. They also seized access logs and surveillance video for a two hour period on the night of the shooting, the returns show.

Lee Merritt, an attorney for Jean’s family, has claimed that two witnesses have contradicted Guyger’s account. He says they heard knocking at the door and a woman saying, “Let me in. Let me in.”

He said one of the witnesses heard gunshots followed by a man's voice, saying, “Oh my god, Why did you do that?”

It’s still not clear if these two witnesses are credible.

But a neighbor who lives directly across the hall from Jean did not give that account to investigators. His interview was videotaped, the sources said. Investigators believe he was in the best position to hear what happened.

The neighbor told investigators that he heard an exchange of words and then immediate gunfire, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.

The sources also say that the neighbor did not hear anyone banging at the door. He also could not make out what was said between the male and female voice he heard.

The District Attorney’s office continues to investigate the Jean case and will eventually present it to a grand jury. Grand jurors could decide to choose to indict her for manslaughter, a second degree felony punishable by up to 20 years.

Grand jurors could also indict her for first-degree murder, punishable by up to life in prison, or for the lesser charge of criminally negligent homicide. That charge is punishable by up two years.

It is also possible that they could decline to indict her at all.

Guyger has since vacated her apartment.
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I can only pray to God, Allah, Buddha, and erruhbody else that Ted Cruz is on the receiving end of some hot slugs from a cop's gun for being an illegal alien, then have them plant a gun and meth on him.
 
I really do hope Trump comes to Texas to campaign for Cruz........that will make Cruz look more like a bitch......dude disrespected your wife and father and now you riding for him. Hopefully Trump up in Texas will motivate college-age voters to vote for Beto
 
https://www.dallasnews.com/news/cri...-botham-jeans-home-before-killed-amber-guyger

Why apartment managers really visited Botham Jean's home before he was killed by Amber Guyger


After Botham Jean was shot and killed in his Dallas home by an off-duty police officer, attorneys and law enforcement officials said there was a noise complaint targeting his apartment earlier that day.

But it turns out it wasn't loud music that brought leasing office employees to Jean's apartment hours before he was shot at the South Side Flats, an attorney for Jean's family said Wednesday.

Rather, it was the smell of marijuana, and they ultimately determined it wasn't coming from Jean's home, attorney Lee Merritt said.

Merritt said Jean, 26, was watching football in his apartment Sept. 6 when he was shot and killed by Dallas police Officer Amber Guyger.

Guyger, 30, told authorities she mistook his apartment for her own and thought he was a burglar. Jean's fourth-floor apartment was directly above hers at the complex in the Cedars neighborhood, a few blocks from Dallas police headquarters.

Police who searched Jean's apartment after the shooting seized a small amount of marijuana, which was documented in a search warrant released last week.

It's unclear to whom the drugs belonged or how they got there.

The day of the shooting, employees from the South Side Flats leasing office knocked on Jean's door saying there had been a noise complaint, Merritt said.

Jean told his girlfriend what happened and that he was offended by the women's visit because he'd just gotten home from work at PricewaterhouseCoopers and wasn't playing music, said a law enforcement official, who isn't authorized to address the case publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Like law enforcement, Merritt has previously said there was a noise complaint about Jean's apartment the day he was shot. But Merritt said Wednesday that he learned that was not true.

Merritt said there hadn't been a noise complaint against Jean in the two months Guyger had lived in the building.

Asked about noise complaints, a spokeswoman for the South Side Flats corporate ownership said she couldn't comment on the ongoing investigation.

The Jean family's attorney also shed new light Wednesday on how he spent his final night.

The night he was killed, Jean planned to watch the Atlanta Falcons play the Philadelphia Eagles, the first game of the NFL season, Merritt said.

"He was a huge football fan and was looking forward to watching the game," Merritt said.

A thunderstorm passing through Philadelphia delayed the game by 45 minutes, so the game was still on when Guyger arrived at his door about 10 p.m.

Jean was eating cereal, texting a friend and using his laptop around that time, Merritt said. A file from work sat nearby, but it was too dark in the room to work, he added.

The officer was still in uniform when she fired her service weapon twice, striking Jean once in the torso. He was found lying next to the couch, Merritt said.

Merritt said he doesn't believe it was an accident that Guyger went to Jean's apartment or that she thought he was a burglar. But, he said, he also doesn't have a theory of what happened.

He also says Guyger's account of the shooting has changed, and he points to several documents released in the days after the shooting.

The affidavit that Dallas police used to obtain a search warrant for Jean's apartment, before authorities interviewed Guyger, says she was confronted "at the door" by an unknown male who she may have thought was an intruder.

The document provides few other details but did list what was taken from his home: a black backpack with police equipment and paperwork, used medical supplies and 10.4 grams of marijuana.

The arrest warrant affidavit, written after authorities interviewed Guyger, says she shot Jean from "across the room." She told authorities that she had mistakenly parked on the fourth floor instead of the third, and inserted her key into Jean's door, which was slightly ajar.

No search warrants have been released for Guyger's home or car. It's possible she consented to the search, and in that case a warrant would not be required.

Police took Guyger's blood to test for alcohol and drugs. That test was still pending Wednesday. Jean's autopsy will include similar tests. Full autopsy results can take six to eight weeks.

Guyger was arrested on a manslaughter charge three days after the shooting when she turned herself in at the Kaufman County Jail. She posted a $300,000 bond within an hour.

Merritt and many local criminal defense attorneys have said they believe Guyger should be charged with murder. Manslaughter is a reckless act under Texas law. A murder charge implies the suspect intentionally and knowingly shot and killed someone. Guyger intended to pull the trigger, the attorneys argue, so a manslaughter charge is not appropriate.

Dallas County District Attorney Faith Johnson has indicated she is open to pursuing a murder charge against Guyger.
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https://dfw.cbslocal.com/2018/09/20/dallas-police-chief-explains-amber-guyger-disciplined/

Dallas Police Chief Explains Why Officer Who Shot, Killed Man In His Apartment Has Not Been Disciplined

DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) – Dallas Police Chief U. Reneé Hall issued a statement Thursday afternoon explaining why no disciplinary action has been taken against Officer Amber Guyger.

Guyger is charged with manslaughter after the September 6 deadly shooting of Botham Jean, 26, who was in his own apartment at Southside Flats that Guyger mistook for her own.

Guyger’s case is being investigated by Dallas Police, the Texas Rangers and the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office.

Some in the community, including Botham Jean’s family’s attorney, have called for Guyger to be fired.

Chief Hall addressed that in a statement, explaining why no action has been taken.

Here is the complete statement.

“There is one overriding reason that I have not taken any administrative or employment action against Officer Amber Guyger. I don’t want to interfere with the on-going criminal investigation into her actions.

“Here’s why. As an employer, DPD can compel Officer Guyger to provide a statement during a DPD administrative investigation and those statements given to DPD could potentially compromise the criminal investigation.

“That is not a risk I am willing to take. We cannot let the criminal case be determined on a ’technicality’ rather than the facts. An exhaustive and thorough criminal investigation is essential, and as soon as we are assured that conducting an administrative investigation will not impede on the criminal investigation, we will proceed.”

Dallas lawyer and former police officer Pete Schulte questioned the chief’s statement saying, “Both the internal investigation and the criminal investigation should be ongoing at the same time. There is no ability for the internal affairs investigation to cross over to what the Texas Rangers are doing. It doesn’t make any sense legally why these two investigations cannot be going on simultaneously, like they have happened in every other case.”
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C74059EC-001F-4E46-A554-C60493121B43.gif
 
http://www.fox4news.com/news/dallas...om-citizens-in-wake-of-botham-jean-shooting#/

Dallas officer seeing increased hostility from citizens in wake of Botham Jean shooting

DALLAS
- A Dallas police officer said he’s seeing increased hostility from Dallas citizens in the wake of the shooting death of Botham Jean by an off-duty DPD officer.

Sr. Cpl. Larry Bankston has been with DPD for 15 years and said the fallout from Amber Guyger’s actions is affecting how people feel about police officers. He said he’s had two people confront him in the past week – one a white man and another a black woman.

“He was like, ‘I don’t like police.’ Once again, I was like, 'Man you don’t even know me.' And he was like, ‘It doesn't matter, you know. I don’t like police,’” Bankston said.

Both people live in his own Cedars-area apartment building.

“And I was like, 'Ma'am you don’t even know me. and then she said, ‘I don’t have to know you, it’s a cover-up.’ And I’m like, 'I don’t know what happened. I’m upset as well,'” Bankston said. “She said ‘It doesn't matter. You guys are all in it together.’”

In 2016, Bankston brought social media attention to Steven Hall, who jumped into a swimming pool to save a drowning girl. Bankston’s post shared hundreds of thousands of times. It’s different from the social media posts being shared since Jean’s killing.

“I feel like it’s unfair to look at every officer like they’re not an individual, like they’re the same because we forget at one point in our history we were fighting and protesting for me to be in the uniform,” said Bankston, who is black. “Without that fight and that protest I wouldn't be representing the communities that are angry right now.”

Jean was shot dead by Guyger on Sept. 6 in his own apartment. It’s still unclear the sequence of events that led to his death, but Guyger claims she mistakenly entered Jean’s apartment believing it was her own.

Bankston said he wants both sides to come together.

“I can’t, we can’t control the actions of anyone, but we can control ourselves,” Bankston said. “I just hope the command staff feels like my heart is in the right place. You know, I’m not trying to make waves I’m just trying to make it better for everyone because maybe they feel like they can’t say what I can.”

The investigation into Jean’s killing is still ongoing. Guyger remains on paid administrative leave from the department.
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eeh.gif
 
No officer is allowed to be called an officer anymore if they utter the words....we cant control the actions....thats your mother fucking job duty muh fucker
 
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