*A federal judge has ruled the city of Dallas is not liable for former officer Amber Guyger shooting Botham Jean in his own apartment last year.
U.S. District Judge Barbara Lynn dismissed the city from a civil lawsuit that the Jean family brought after the 26-year-old was killed by Guyger, who was off-duty at the time.
The ruling leaves 31-year-old Guyger as the sole defendant in the suit. Jean’s family may have paved the way for the dismissal (or unlikelihood) of a large financial settlement, and Guyger’s potential early release from prison, when Botham’s brother publicly embraced her during trail.
“I forgive and I love you as a person and I don’t wish anything bad on you,” Brant Jean said in a statement to his brother’s killer during her sentencing.
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Botham Jean’s brother to Amber Guyger: “I forgive you.”
In a stunning moment, Brandt Jean asked the judge to allow him to hug the former Dallas police officer after she was sentenced to 10 years in prison for killing his sibling. https://t.co/Pw4gBchCC1 pic.twitter.com/OPNbZrlmxi
— ABC News (@ABC) October 3, 2019
Botham’s father even admitted that he would love to befriend Guyger upon her release.
“I’d like to become your friend at some point… I think I have the ability to do it and I would like to be a friend despite my loss. That’s why we are Christians,” Bertrum Jean stated.
Back in October, Guyger was found guilty and convicted of murdering Botham Jean. She faced up to 99 years in prison but only received a sentence of 10 years.
According to the Houston Chronicle, the family’s suit argues Guyger used excessive force and that better police training could have prevented Jean’s death.
In her brief ruling, Lynn wrote that she was dismissing the city from liability because the suit failed “to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.”
Guyger is eligible for parole after serving five years.
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