Ex-Dallas officer breaks down during murder trial

Ex-Dallas officer breaks down during murder trial

Ex-Dallas officer breaks down during murder trial

"I was scared to death", Guyger said, adding that her "heart rate just skyrocketed".

"I ask God for forgiveness, and I hate myself every single day".

Amber Guyger, 31, who was sacked by the department after the shooting, entered Botham Jean's apartment and shot him on September 6, 2018.

Asked what she was thinking, she said, "That I shot an innocent man".

Guyger then reenacted how she reached the apartment door she believed was hers, with her backpack, lunch box and police vest in her left hand and said she heard the sound of someone walking around inside.

Her lawyers have argued that she was exhausted and on "autopilot" after a 15-hour shift - but prosecutors claim she was distracted by a phone conversation with her colleague with whom she was having an affair. The jury could also find her not guilty or guilty of the lesser crime of manslaughter, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

In her testimony, Guyger told jurors that the shooting "is not about hate, it's about being scared".

Under cross-examination, the prosecution pointed out that Guyger's emotional appearance in court belied her actions the night she killed Jean, when he said she was not in tears while sitting comfortably in the squad auto using her phone.

Check out the prosecutors strong case against Guyger. Rivera, she said, typically called her, but she never called him because "I knew it was wrong and I never knew where he was".

While on the stand, Guyger also addressed her own past growing up in Arlington, a suburb of Dallas.

"It started hitting me that this guy, I have no idea who he is, and that's when everything just started to spin", she said, according to the local paper.

During her testimony, Guyger cried and wiped away tears. Overcome with emotion, Guyger breaks down several times on the witness stand, telling the jury, "I'm so sorry".

Attorney Toby Shook asked jurors to consider the evidence from Guyger's perspective: She thought she was at her apartment, found the door open, went inside and discovered a large man in what she thought was her living room.

The capturing, certainly one of a sequence of high-profile killings of unarmed black males and teenagers by white USA law enforcement officials, sparked avenue protests, significantly after prosecutors initially moved to cost Guyger with manslaughter, a cost for killing with out malice.

Defense attorneys have argued that the layout of the Dallas apartment complex was confusing and that it wasn't unusual for residents to mistake others' apartments for their own.

September 23, 2019 - Guyger's murder trial begins in Dallas. Guyger testified that the decision was in relation to work. Guyger said she tried to help Jean by doing chest compressions and performing a "sternum rub" to try to keep him conscious. Judge Kemp refuses to allow Armstrong to state his opinions in front of the jury, but defense attorneys say they plan to call him back to the stand as an expert witness.

Defense attorney Toby Shook said Monday that Guyger made "a series of terrible mistakes" that were entirely understandable.

Creuzot spoke on Friday's panel alongside Dallas Police Chief U Reneé Hall and Dallas County Sheriff Marian Brown.

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