Judge Dismisses Dallas from Lawsuit in Amber Guyger/Botham Jean Murder Case
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A federal judge has dismissed the civil lawsuit against the city of Dallas, Texas in the matter of the 2018 murder of Botham Jean, a twenty-six-year old black man, an accountant for Price Waterhouse Coopers, a Gospel singer, a brother, an uncle, a son, and an emigre from the pristine Caribbean island of Saint Lucia. Botham Jean was, in short, an all-round “Good Guy.”
Jean was shot and killed in his own apartment while watching football and eating ice cream by a thirty-year-old white female Dallas police officer, who claimed that she mistakenly believed that she was in her own apartment and that Jean was an intruder.
Amber Guyger was found guilty of the murder of Botham Jean, but sentenced to only ten years imprisonment. She will likely be released in less than half of that time.
The civil suit charged the Dallas Police Department with, among other things,
….a pattern, practice, history, and custom of using excessive force against minorities, including approaching them with guns drawn, when there is no imminent threat of bodily harm.
The dismissal order was handed down two days before Christmas by US District Judge Barbara Lynn. Crucially, the case against Dallas was dismissed “with prejudice,” which is legalese meaning that the suit may not be reinstated before Judge Lynn because it failed “to state a claim upon which relief can be granted,” wrote the judge.
However, the Jean family filed an almost immediate appeal of the dismissal to the US District Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
We feel that the city of Dallas should be in this lawsuit. Should be held responsible for the acts of Amber Guyger, family attorney Daryl Washington told local TV station NBC DFW. To get this news the day after Christmas was very difficult for the family, said Washington. They know we have a fight ahead of us. And they’re just prepared to do whatever it takes to get some type of justice for Botham and their family.
Reactions to this disheartening news have been mixed on social media.
A sampling of Twitter yielded these: :
This is what publicly hugging and declaring forgiveness for…
