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A Texas jury will be sequestered for the duration of the murder trial of a white former Dallas police officer charged with killing a 26-year-old unarmed black man after mistaking his apartment for her own and wrongly suspecting he was a burglar.
Dallas County District Court Judge Tammy Kemp ruled that the jury will be sequestered moments after defense attorneys for fired Dallas police officer Amber Guyger called for a mistrial, arguing Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot violated a gag order by talking about the case in a TV interview over the weekend.
But after reviewing the interview and polling the jurors in private on whether they saw Creuzot’s interview on TV, Kemp overruled the defense motion and order the trial to proceed.
Kemp did not say if the defense motion for a mistrial influenced her ruling on whether to sequester the jury in a hotel for the entirety of the trial, which is expected to last up to two weeks.
Opening arguments in the case are expected to begin on Monday afternoon.
Guyger is charged with murder stemming from the Sept. 6, 2018, fatal shooting of Botham “Bo” Jean at the South Side Flats apartment complex in Dallas.
“Anytime you bring a case against a police officer it’s difficult anywhere in the country because there’s so much automatic credibility given to law enforcement officers,” Lee Merritt, an attorney representing Jean’s loved ones, told ABC News on Sunday.
Jean’s family, including his parents, brother and sister, held a prayer vigil on the steps of the Dallas courthouse Monday morning before entering the courtroom.
“We’re hoping to see a diverse jury that’s able to critically analyze testimony from law enforcement officers,” Merritt said.
Guyger, 31, was fired from the Dallas Police Department 18 days after she fatally shot Jean. She had been a member of the department for four years.
She told investigators she arrived home about 10 p.m. after working a 15-hour shift and parked her car on the fourth floor of the building instead of the third floor, which corresponded to her apartment, according to an arrest warrant affidavit by investigators from the Texas Rangers, a division of the Texas Department of Public Safety.
Guyger’s apartment was directly beneath Jean’s fourth-floor unit.
“Guyger entered the building and walked down the fourth-floor hallway to what she thought was her apartment,” according to the arrest warrant. “She inserted a unique door key, with an electronic chip, into the door keyhole. The door, which was slightly ajar prior to Guyger’s arrival, fully opened under the force of the key insertion.”
When the door opened, she saw a “large silhouette” in the nearly completely dark apartment and believed it was a burglar, according to the warrant.
Guyger told investigators she drew her firearm, gave verbal commands that were ignored and fired twice, hitting Jean, who lived alone, in the torso, according to the document.
She was still in her uniform at the time of the shooting.
“Due to the interior darkness of the apartment, Guyger turned on the interior lights while on the phone with 911. Upon being asked where she was located by emergency dispatchers, Guyger returned to the front door to observe the address and discovered she was at the wrong apartment,” according to the arrest warrant.
BOOKED: As Botham Jean was laid to rest at his funeral today, authorities released booking video of Dallas police officer Amber Guyger, who claims she mistook his apartment for hers before fatally shooting him; she currently faces a manslaughter charge. https://t.co/wpgejkGJIh pic.twitter.com/bYTYe4LbHb
During his funeral, Jean, who was an accountant for PricewaterhouseCoopers, was recalled by mourners as a man of many talents: a strong Christian, a beloved friend, dependable work colleague and a gifted singer. Jean’s uncle said he had aspirations of becoming a politician in his native country of Saint Lucia.
“The sound of gunshots did not have the resonance to be heard on our small island, but their impact was of nuclear proportions,” Jean’s uncle, Ignatius Jean, told mourners at the funeral. “A nuke had been unleashed on our family by someone charged to protect and serve.”
Guyger was initially arrested and charged with manslaughter. But a Dallas County grand jury later indicted her on one count of murder.
Guyger’s defense team had requested a change of venue for the trial, arguing Guyger couldn’t get a fair trial in Dallas County because of the publicity surrounding the case.
A judge rejected the request.
