*A jury has ordered former Dallas police officer Amber Guyger to pay $98 million in damages for the fatal 2018 shooting of Botham Jean in his home.
The award includes $60 million in punitive damages and $38 million in compensatory damages for Jean’s family. Guyger, currently serving a 10-year prison sentence for murder, did not attend the civil trial or have legal representation, NBC News reports.
Jean’s family and their legal team called the civil verdict a “powerful testament to Botham’s life and the profound injustice of his death.”
“This case laid bare critical issues of racial bias and police accountability that cannot be ignored,” they said in the statement. “Today’s verdict sends a clear message that law enforcement officers who commit crimes cannot be insulated from the consequences of their actions.”
We reported earlier that Guyger, who was convicted in the fatal shooting of Botham Jean in his apartment in 2018, was recently denied parole.
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The Texas Department of Criminal Justice informed the family of the decision in an email that said in part:
“This is to notify you that the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles denied parole for this offender on 10-10-24 until the next review date scheduled for 10-10-26. Should the board receive additional information that may return the case to the review process earlier you will be notified.”
Guyger attracted national attention and sparked protests around the city after she shot and killed Jean in September 2018. Guyger told authorities she confused Botham’s apartment for her own.
Her body-worn camera was not recording during the shooting because she was off duty. She was convicted of murder and sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2019. She appealed the conviction but lost her appeal two years ago.
“She’s caused my family tremendous, tremendous hurt, tremendous pain,” Allison Jean, Botham’s mother, previously stated. “She ought to remain where she is.”
Guyger was up for parole last month on what would have been Botham’s 33rd birthday.
“She needs to serve her entire 10-year term, which is well below a sentence that one receives for murder,” Allisa Charles-Findley, sister of Botham, told WFAA. “Murder of an innocent man in the comfort of his home, doing nothing wrong.”
“So we have another two years of peace before we have to go through that again,” Finley said following the parole board’s decision. “I will sleep so much better.”
READ MORE FROM EURWEB.COM: Amber Guyger Denied Parole After Botham Jean Murder Conviction
