| UNFAIR PARK | Never- Ending Trauma Last week, the state’s highest appeals court upheld Amber Guyger’s conviction and sentencing for kill- ing Botham Jean in 2018. BY JACOB VAUGHN F or the last few years, former Dal- las Police officer Amber Guyger has hoped to appeal her convic- tion and sentencing for killing an unarmed man in his apartment in 2018. But now that the state’s highest crimi- nal court upheld her murder conviction and 10-year prison sentence last Wednesday, Guyger may be running out of options. Meanwhile, the family of the man she shot and killed says they haven’t had the proper chance to mourn their loved one, 26-year-old Botham Jean, throughout the years-long saga surrounding the fatal shooting. Guyger fatally shot Jean, who is Black, af- ter she entered his home on Sept. 6, 2018. He was eating ice cream when Guyger came in. Guyger says she thought it was her place and he was an intruder, so she shot him. Guyger lived on the floor above Jean. She was arrested, fired from the depart- ment and indicted for murder. She was convicted and sentenced in 2019 and made an appeal last year. Guyger was hoping to receive a lesser sentence through her appeal, arguing she should be charged with criminally negligent homicide instead of murder. After the appeal was filed, Lee Merritt, the Jean family’s attorney, said it proved Guyger doesn’t regret her actions. “After ad- mitting her crime and asking Botham Jean’s family for mercy, Guyger’s actions in filing this appeal reflect someone who is not re- pentant but instead was hoping to play on the family’s sympathies at the time that they were most vulnerable,” Merritt told CNN. Guyger thinks the charge should be re- duced because she thought her life was in danger, justifying lethal force. Guyger faced up to 100 years behind bars for the murder charge. The sentence for criminally negli- gent homicide is between 180 days and two years. She also argued that because she thought she was in her own apartment, she shouldn’t be culpable for murder. But the Court of Criminal Appeals de- clined to hear Gugyer’s appeal last week. The Dallas Morning News reported on the decision shortly after it happened. Guyger’s attorney, Michael Mowla, didn’t respond to a request for comment. The appeals court has final appellate jurisdiction over criminal cases. This means Guyger has few, if any, op- tions left for her appeal. After the appeal was filed last year, Alissa Charles-Findley, Jean’s sister, told the Observer her family’s mourning has been prolonged. “I don’t think I’ve really had time to mourn my brother because it has just been one event after another,” Charles-Findley said at the time. “We had to deal with bury- ing him, picking out a casket, dealing with the Texas Rangers and the case, then the trial comes through. Then after the trial, now it’s the appeal.” Charles-Findley said she didn’t feel much different after the conviction and sentencing was appealed last week. “There’s no sense of relief or that we can move on when these appeals keep popping up,” she said. “I’m taking it one day at a time. I don’t think we’ll ever get a chance to sit and grieve Botham.” With a pending civil suit against the city and Guyger up for parole in 2024, Charles- Findley said the future is uncertain for her and her family. “There’s so much a grieving family has to deal with. It adds to our trauma,” she said. “It feels like we were sentenced too.” ▼ CRIME SEARCH CONTINUES A MORE THAN A YEAR AFTER THE JAN. 6 CAPITOL BREACH, FBI-DALLAS CONTINUES ITS SEARCH FOR SUSPECTS. BY SIMONE CARTER fter the U.S. Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, the FBI immediately started digging. Officials wanted to iden- sure that the insurrection doesn’t become normalized. As recently as February, agency leader- ship has “made a push to help the American people understand how important it is … that the folks that committed these violent acts are brought to justice,” said spokesper- son Katie Chaumont of FBI-Dallas, which covers much of the state’s top half. Sometimes, internet sleuths aid the FBI in identifying a suspect, even if they don’t know the person themselves, she said. Such sleuths assisted in exposing rioters from North Texas, including Frisco real es- tate broker Jenna Ryan. In February, the re- altor was released from a federal prison camp after she had been sentenced to 60 days over her alleged participation in the in- surrection. Ryan was among several other North Flashit Photography A mural dedicated to Botham Jean near Botham Jean Boulevard in Dallas. tify those who had entered the Capitol building, as well as people who had com- mitted acts of violence against police and media workers. More than a year has passed since the day that supporters of then-President Donald Trump charged into Congress, interrupting the 2020 Electoral College vote certification. But the search for North Texans who partici- pated in the events of Jan. 6 continues. Authorities are asking for the public’s help identifying insurrectionists who’ve so far evaded law enforcement. Earlier last week, FBI-Dallas sent out a description of one such alleged rioter who possibly resides in North Texas. Dubbed BOLO [be on the lookout] 318, she’s believed to be a white woman with brown hair in her 60s or 70s and stands be- tween 4 feet 10 inches and 5 feet 4 inches. She was pictured in a black jacket and a long-sleeve white shirt featuring a carica- ture of Trump. Authorities believe she also wore a green scarf and purple backpack. The FBI say BOLO318 was seen in the Speaker’s Lobby. She also allegedly entered the Capitol building and, despite her petite frame, “was observed assaulting members of the media.” Shortly after the Jan. 6 riot, Democrats and Republicans largely condemned the storming of the Capitol, which forced Con- gress members into hiding and caused them to fear for their lives. Yet since then, many in the GOP have begun to change tack, refram- ing the riot as a protest and the rioters as tourists. Some charged in connection with the breach have even run for office and bragged about their involvement while out on the campaign trail. Yet the FBI is working to en- Texans who had flown from Denton to the nation’s capital in a private plane. Now, one of the plane’s other passengers, Jason Lee Hyland, has also pleaded guilty to a misde- meanor count of parading, demonstrating or picketing in the Capitol building. He could face up to six months behind bars. Hyland and some of his comrades who attended the “Stop the Steal” rally on Jan. 6 went back to their hotel afterward, court documents show. But upon learning that their fellow Trump supporters had begun to swarm the Capitol, the group booked it back down to ground zero. Once there, Hyland and Ryan remained in the Capitol building for a short period of time. Law & Crime reports that while inside, Hyland recorded himself saying that he was a taxpayer. Federal prosecutors have inter- preted that to mean that Hyland felt a sense of ownership regarding the Capitol grounds. The following day, Hyland and company flew home via the same private plane. His sentencing has been set for Aug. 2. ▼ COURTS DRONE ON eral judge in Austin ruled last Monday. The National Press Photographers Associ- A ation, the Texas Press Association and former Dallas Observer editor Joseph Pappalardo challenged the so-called “Texas Privacy Act,” which threatened criminal charges and pun- ishing civil lawsuits against anyone taking images “of an individual or privately owned real property in this state with the intent to conduct surveillance on the individual or property captured in the image.” Well, almost anyone. Academics, law en- forcement, Realtors, surveyors, utility com- panies, gas and oil drillers, pipeline companies and others with a “commercial purpose” were exempt under the >> p6 A TEXAS LAW THAT LIMITS THE USE OF REMOTELY PILOTED DRONES TO CAPTURE IMAGES IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL, A FEDERAL JUDGE RECENTLY RULED. BY PATRICK WILLIAMS Texas law that limits the use of re- motely piloted drones to capture images is unconstitutional, a fed- 5 5 dallasobserver.comdallasobserver.com | CONTENTS | UNFAIR PARK | SCHUTZE | FEATURE | NIGHT+DAY | CULTURE | MOVIES | DISH | MUSIC | CLASSIFIED | CLASSIFIED | MUSIC | DISH | CULTURE | UNFAIR PARK | CONTENTS DALLAS OBSERVER DALLAS OBSERVER MONTH XX–MONTH XX, 2014 APRIL 7–13, 2022
