Two noteworthy things came out of former Dallas police officer Amber Guyger’s first court appearance on June 6 before the judge who will preside over her murder trial in the slaying of PwC accountant Botham Jean:
1. Jury selection to begin Sept. 6. That is the one-year anniversary of when Guyger came home to the South Side Flats apartment complex after a shift just before 10 p.m., still in uniform, went to Jean’s apartment on the fourth floor thinking it was hers, even though she lived on the third floor one unit directly below Jean, opened the front door which was ajar, saw Jean who was watching a football game on his couch and thought he was an intruder, and fatally shot the PwC Dallas accountant in the chest.
The Dallas Morning News reported that potential jurors will first fill out a questionnaire, and those who aren’t disqualified will return on Sept. 13 to be questioned by the attorneys.
2. The judge is PISSED that the audio of Guyger’s 911 call was leaked. According to the Dallas Morning News, State District Judge Tammy Kemp said she was “dismayed to find out the 911 call had been leaked to the media.” She said the person who released it “lacked the integrity and the fortitude to honor” the gag order that she issued on Jan. 8, which prevents attorneys and Guyger from speaking publicly about the case.
Prosecutor Jason Hermus and defense attorney Robert Rogers told Kemp that they had not leaked the recording and they still don’t know who did.
In the 911 call she made after shooting Jean, Guyger repeatedly told the dispatcher that she thought she had entered her apartment, not Jean’s, and that she was going to lose her job.
Guyger did get fired from her job on Sept. 24, about two weeks after she was arrested and charged with manslaughter in Jean’s death. Guyger had worked for the Dallas Police Department for nearly five years.
After two days of hearing evidence in late November, a Dallas County grand jury on Nov. 30 upgraded Guyger’s charge from manslaughter to murder. She turned herself in to authorities that afternoon and was released on $200,000 bond.
