DALLAS — More than one week after her trial started and a day after she was found guilty of murder, Amber Guyger has been sentenced to 10 years, WFAA reports.
The jury has reached a sentence in the murder case against Amber Guyger.
The former Dallas officer was sentenced to 10 years.
Guyger was found guilty of murder Tuesday morning and the jury began sentencing deliberations Wednesday afternoon.
During closing arguments, the state asked the jury to sentence Guyger to a minimum of 28 years – the age Botham Jean would be today if he was still alive.
Judge Tammy Kemp told jurors that they could also consider “sudden passion.”
Texas law defines sudden passion as “passion directly caused by and arising out of provocation by the individual killed.”
Under sudden passion, a defendant faces between a two and 20-year sentence.
Over a two-day period, character witnesses for Jean and Guyger took the stand.
Bertrum Jean was first to be called by the state Wednesday morning.
“I loved my Sunday morning,” he told the courtroom Wednesday. “My Sundays have been destroyed.”
Sundays, he told the courtroom, were the days he would talk with his son on the phone after Jean returned home from church.
“Sundays are not a good day for me,” he said, breaking down in tears several times while on the stand. “Because I’m not hearing his voice.”
Jean’s mother took the stand the day before.
“I cannot sleep,” she told the courtroom. “I cannot eat. It’s just been the most terrible time for me.”
Karen Guyger, Amber’s mother, was the first witness called by the defense Wednesday.
She also became emotional on the stand as she described a young Amber Guyger, who she called sweet and someone who easily made friends.
Karen Guyger testified that a former live-in boyfriend molested Amber when she was 6 years old. He was later arrested on a charge of indecency with a child, she said.
“She was very upset,” Karen Guyger said of when her daughter first told her about the shooting. “I couldn’t understand her because she was crying so hard.”
“She wanted to take his place,” Guyger’s mother said. “She always would tell me she wished she could have taken his place.”
Tuesday, the day Guyger was found guilty, the former Dallas police officer was booked into the Dallas County jail. She was taken into custody outside of the jury’s presence at the end of the day.
