Question

In 2019, Police Officer Amber Guyger was convicted of the murder of Botham Jean in a 2017 case in which she entered his apartment and shot him thinking he was an intruder in her own nearby apartment, according to her testimony. Guyger was convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison. The younger brother of Botham spoke in court after the conviction was read stating that he forgave Guyger and requested that he be allowed to hug her, which he did. Here is a video news report on it: LINK (Links to an external site.). Here is a video of Tervor Noah's comment and views on the case: LINK (Links to an external site.). [1] What is your response to what Brandt Jean, brother of the murdered Botham Jean, did in court? Do you believe forgiving someone who has deeply wronged us is a moral duty or is the act of forgiving something extra that goes above and beyond what is one’s duty? Explain your answer.

[2] What is your response to the analysis and commentary of Trevor Noah on the Guyger case? Based on what Trevor says and based on the NPR Podcast interview with Jemar Tisby, what do you think about the question of "whether the public expects black victims to provide forgiveness to white perpetrators" (NPR Podcast 2019, link (Links to an external site.))?

Answer 1

The Amber Guyger case has caused a lot of social and political conversations to be brought up on social media about cop’s trigger reflex, leniency on charges and amount of time served compared to people of colour and lastly the suspicious death of the key witness Joshua Brown.

     Here's a quick round down of the case overall. Amber Guyger almost a year ago killed Botham Jean an innocent black man in his apartment stating that she parked on the wrong floor after a long shift and therefore she believed that she was walking into her own apartment. She happened to be a cop and was put on administrative leave once an arrest warrant was issued for Guyger. The Texas jury tried to convict her of murder but her defence attorneys claimed she made a tragic but understandable mistake and anyone in her shoes could have done the same course of action she took. On October 2nd 2019 she was convicted of murder and sentenced to 10 years in prison.  

     Joshua Brown lived across the hall from Botham Jean and was the key witness in the case because he was able to describe exactly what Guyger did and where he was at the moment. Without his testimony, Guyger might have gotten less time or not even charged at all. Also because of his testimony, he becomes in a sense viral overnight. Many people of colour resonated with his emotion and fear and Brown claimed that “he lived in constant fear that he could be the next victim of gun violence, either state-sanctioned or otherwise.” and that this situation could have easily happened to him instead of Botham Jean. Brown, according to his relatives had some hesitation about being the key witness in this trial and feared he would be seen as a snitch and be potentially harmed for being apart of such a high profile case.

     10 days after his testimony Joshua Brown was gun downed and eventually died outside his new apartment complex Atera Apartments, which happened to be five miles from his old complex where Jean was killed. Brown "was ambushed at his apartment complex as he got out of his car and (was) shot at close range," This caused social media to go in an uproar once it went public that he passed. Many people praised him for having the courage to speak up and felt that there had to be foul play involved. Family and friends agreed that he had to have been killed because of his relation to this case.

      As I mentioned, social media has been a key factor in this case and the media outcry it has caused. One of the main discussions this case has started was the treatment of people of colour on trail vs white people. Throughout the trail you see the tone of the case be in favour of Amber Guyger. From her crying at the stand to hugs from her former police department colleges and even the judge to the media spinning her case into “sob story”. Another case that was happening at the same time was a 21-year-old black man who overslept his jury duty and was sentenced to 10 days in jail, one year of probation and 150 hours of community service and was ordered to pay $233 in fees. Even though the cases are not the same it did show the contrast on how people of colour are treated on the stand and in the criminal justice system vs white people and this case had become intertwined with the Guyger case because of the timeframe.

     Overall I've been seeing this case for a while and technically I have been following it since the beginning. But in general, as a black person and an avid social media user, I guess I have become numb to all these events and how wildly unfair they are. There seems to be a new story like this or worse every day almost. This assignment made me actually look up the details that I had avoided online and I will definitely be waiting on how the key witness’s murder case pans out.