Extraordinary act of mercy: Brother of
Botham Jean hugs and forgives Amber
Guyger after 10-year sentence imposed
ABC News,
by
Bill Hutchinson
Original Article
Posted By: Hazymac,
10/3/2019 11:37:01 AM
Former Dallas police officer Amber Guyger was sentenced on Wednesday to serve 10 years in prison for the fatal 2018 killing of an innocent man she shot when she mistakenly entered his apartment believing it was her own. But in a remarkable act of kindness, the brother of the victim took the witness stand and spoke directly to Guyger, saying, "I love you like anyone else," and later hugged her in the courtroom before she was led off to prison. The Dallas County jury reached a unanimous decision on the sentence just before 4 p.m. Central Standard Time, after deliberating for a little over an hour.
Reply 1 - Posted by:
earlybird 10/3/2019 11:47:57 AM (No. 196616)
Botham Jean was apparently an extraordinary young man. His brother did what he believed his brother would have wanted. That is personal. And that is Christian. This was a sad story for all involved.
23 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
kathleentexas 10/3/2019 11:49:17 AM (No. 196617)
grace
16 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
farmwife 10/3/2019 12:06:41 PM (No. 196643)
The woman showed real remorse for what she did. That, too, was a factor.
10 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
JGalt 10/3/2019 12:13:22 PM (No. 196657)
This was a complete miscarriage of justice.
To convict someone of murder the jury had to be convinced that she INTENDED to murder her neighbor beyond a REASONABLE DOUBT. This was a tragedy.... an accident.... a murder conviction is compounding of that tragedy and (again) a grave miscarriage of justice.
There is much more than a reasonable doubt here. Her story is plausible and credible.
She was sacrificed at the altar of appeasement to the race hustlers who would have come out of the wood work if she had been fairly treated by our justice system.
I have been a jury in a jury trial and it left me completely disillusioned with how our system "works".... bottom line is it DOESN'T work. IT certainly FAILED to work in this case.
21 people like this.
That picture brings tears to my eyes. What an incredible moment in time. God was right there. This was a tragedy for everyone, but human grace and kindness have won the day.
10 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
DVC 10/3/2019 12:28:20 PM (No. 196677)
This is what Christianity is about. Forgiving a terrible error, something that cannot be undone, cannot be corrected, cannot be called back.
I hope Ms. Guyger will take the Bible to heart and use it to help her deal with the next 10 years.
Very, very sad, all around.
8 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
ginadee 10/3/2019 12:43:17 PM (No. 196690)
I can't believe she only got ten years.
To forgive is an act of God's Holy Grace. God bless the brother.
5 people like this.
She should have gotten 3 years for manslaughter.
8 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
bgarrett 10/3/2019 12:58:49 PM (No. 196715)
10 years?? She will be out in 7.....or less. I know some people who should be dead. Can I get a sweet deal like that?
3 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
RedWhite&Blue2 10/3/2019 1:22:54 PM (No. 196741)
The jury was rigged.
And vengeful.
GOD bless both victims of this tragedy.
8 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
jlw509 10/3/2019 1:28:03 PM (No. 196748)
We see so much of the depravity of the human heart when we follow the news. But God re-makes hearts. He transforms a heart of stone into a tender human heart, He gives us transfusions of His blood, His grace.
It gives us the inspiration to say, "I believe in God."
6 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
ramona 10/3/2019 2:42:55 PM (No. 196805)
Like some others here I have followed this trial closely, even watching a good bit of the testimony. In my opinion, this woman lied about telling Botham to show his hands. There were too many people nearby who would have heard a police officer yelling an order like this. She used incredibly poor judgement in entering an apartment after her own key did not work (unfortunately the door wasn't locked, but a red light went on to indicate the key wasn't right, just as it would in a hotel room). And she realized someone was in there before she entered - so even if it was her own apartment, she should have had the good police sense to call for help rather than confront someone on her own. And if you heard the long string of sex-related messages she had been sending and receiving with her (married with young children) boyfriend, you will understand why she missed the many clues indicating that she was not at her own apartment.
That, in my mind, is her grave error of judgement. She decided before entering that she would be ready to shoot. I will leave it to lawyers to argue the proper sentence. But she clearly took voluntary actions that were more than misguided. It is her lucky day that a member of Botham's family will forgive her. That is God's presence in plain sight. It does not absolve the state from rendering a reasonable punishment, nor the rest of us for feeling some pity for her.
Ramona (the Pest)
3 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
Heraclitus 10/3/2019 2:53:16 PM (No. 196807)
This is an extraordinary expression of the love of Christ. Brandt touched more lives than he may ever know. It is healing, if you accept it. We can hope and pray that his and Botham's Mom will experience this great, great love to ease her pain of loss, of a man who apparently was like his younger Brother in character and faith.
I hope that Ms. Guyger's remorse is real and leads to real change in her heart. She needs to read that Bible which the Judge gave to her.
Beautiful and powerful mercy, grace and forgiveness for all to view and indeed vicariously experience. God bless you, Brandt (and the Judge, too).
2 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
RuckusTom 10/3/2019 2:55:24 PM (No. 196811)
Bottom line, she walked into the wrong apartment and shot the guy living there. Considering that and all the circumstances surrounding it, the court decided on a murder conviction. As a side note, had it been anything other than a murder conviction there would probably be race riots going on in Dallas right now. In fact, there's current rumblings about the sentence being too lenient.
0 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
DVC 10/3/2019 3:12:06 PM (No. 196827)
Negligent manslaughter or negligent homicide, I am no lawyer, but this was NOT murder. A terrible accident, and one that the officer is entirely responsible for, no question. BUT - this was not murder.
The jail term seems maybe twice what it should be, and I attribute that to the racial hatred that the Enemedia brought to this case.
Forgiveness is the only thing that can help her, she knows and will know forever that she made a
terrible, uncorrectable error.
Those of us who go armed should have thought about the "unrecallability" of a bullet. I have, many
times. Two balancing considerations - "if I do not shoot, will I die?" versus, "If I shoot, am I convinced that this is necessary and this person has to die, NOW?"
She got it terribly wrong, but she did not intend to harm him, so it is not murder.
1 person likes this.
Reply 16 - Posted by:
JHHolliday 10/3/2019 3:13:52 PM (No. 196829)
Got off after a fifteen-hour shift. Got on the wrong floor. Mistook his apartment for hers. Got scared and shot him. The charge should have been manslaughter. I am OK with the sentence, just not the charge.
3 people like this.
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God was in that courtroom. This story makes me feel good to be a fellow human being to the one who so totally forgave. That's being a Christian. A lot of good is going to come from this tragedy.