Dallas Dismissed From Lawsuit Over Former Officer Amber Guyger Murder Of Botham Jean
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM/AP) — A federal judge has ruled the city of Dallas is not liable for an off-duty police officer fatally shooting a man in his own apartment last year.
On Monday, U.S. District Judge Barbara Lynn dismissed the city from civil lawsuit that the family of Botham Jean brought after the 26-year-old was killed by Amber Guyger.
The ruling leaves the 31-year-old former officer as the sole defendant in the suit, which argues she used excessive force and that better police training could have prevented Jean's death. It makes a large financial settlement unlikely.
In her brief ruling, Lynn wrote that she was upholding a magistrate judge's decision and dismissing the city because the suit failed "to state a claim upon which relief can be granted."
Guyger was found guilty of murder for Jean's death and sentenced to a decade in prison in October.
Guyger began serving her 10-year prison sentence in Gatesville six days after her conviction.
Guyger faced up to 99 years in prison, and shortly after the sentence was announced, supporters of the Jean family started screaming outside the hallway near the courtroom "No justice, no peace!"
Civil rights groups and activists said the sentence was insufficient.
Following the sentencing, Botham Jean's younger Brandt delivered a heart-felt victim impact statement, telling Guyger, "I forgive you. I know if you go to God and ask him, he will forgive you. I love you just like anyone else. I am not going to say I hope you die just like my brother did... I personally want the best for you. I don't even want you to go to jail... because that's exactly what Botham would want to. Again I love you, as a person."
Then he asked the judge if he could give Guyger a hug and she said, "yes."
Botham Jean, an accountant from the Caribbean island nation of St. Lucia, had been eating a bowl of ice cream when Guyger entered his home and shot him.
A lawyer for Jean's family did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.
(© Copyright 2019 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
