DALLAS _ A Dallas County jury sentenced Amber Guyger to 10 years in prison after convicting the former police officer of murdering her upstairs neighbor Botham Jean in his apartment last year.
Guyger, 31, had been facing between five and 99 years or life in prison.
Brandt Jean, Botham's teenage brother, took a moment after the sentence was announced to speak directly to Guyger.
"If you truly are sorry, I know I can speak for myself, I forgive you," he said.
He said he wanted for Guyger what his brother would have wanted.
"I think giving your life to Christ would be the best thing that Botham would want for you," he told her. "I love you as a person, and I don't wish anything bad on you."
"Can I give her a hug, please?" Brandt Jean asked. "Please."
As soon as he got the OK, Guyger rushed to Brandt Jean and wrapped her arms around him, holding him in a long embrace. Sobbing could be heard in the courtroom.
In the hallway, the news of the sentence prompted chants of protest: "No justice, no peace."
Dee Crane, the mother of Tavis Crane, a young black man shot by an Arlington police officer in 2017, cried as she asked: "How many of us does it take to get justice?"
"What about my son? What about Botham Jean?" Crane said through tears. "How many of us is it going to take before you understand that our lives matter?"
Activist Dominique Alexander said the 10-year sentence was insufficient. He called on the community to attend a protest outside the courthouse Wednesday evening.
Some members of the Jean family, including his older sister Allisa Findley, remained in the courtroom after the decision.
Before they delivered their decision, jurors heard tearful testimony from those who knew Jean best during the sentencing phase of the trial.
His father, Bertrum Jean, told the jury he longed to see his oldest son again, and while every day is a struggle, Sundays were especially hard for the devout St. Lucians.
"How could it be possible?" he continued, shaking his head and dabbing at his eyes with a white handkerchief. "I'll never see him again."
On Sundays, the father, who lives in their native St. Lucia, would wait for his son to get home from his worship service in Dallas so they could talk about what happened in church. Botham, 26, would send his father photos of whatever he was cooking that day.
He still can't watch videos of Botham singing.
"I'm still not ready for it," he said. "It hurts me that he's not there."
Prosecutor LaQuita Long displayed a photo of Bertrum and Allison Jean at their son's funeral. She asked what was going through his head when it was taken.
"How could that happen to us, our family?" Bertrum Jean said through tears. "How could we have lost Botham _ such a sweet boy. He tried his best to live a good, honest life. He loved God. He loved everyone. How could this happen to him?"
A juror wiped away tears with the collar of her denim jacket when Jean broke down on the stand. Then other jurors began to wipe their own eyes.
When Jean sat back down in the gallery, his teenage son, Brandt, put his arm around him.
Testimony continued through the morning, with family members and friends talking about Jean and Guyger in the happier years that preceded the tragic circumstances of last September.
Guyger was off-duty but still in her Dallas police uniform when she shot Jean. She testified that she mistook Jean's apartment for hers and thought he was a burglar.
In closing arguments, Long urged the jury to think about Jean's family and loved ones as they deliberated Guyger's punishment. She urged them to give Guyger no less than a 28-year sentence.
Jean would have celebrated his 28th birthday on Sunday, she said. Long wore Jean's favorite color _ red _ on her earrings and a matching necklace as she spoke to jurors, clutching a photo taken at Jean's burial in St. Lucia.
Long told the jury that sudden passion _ which the defense did not mention during closing arguments _ did not apply in the case, because Jean did not provoke his own death.
"The only reason we all sit in this courtroom today is because of her actions," Long said. "And for her actions, there must be consequences."
In his closing arguments, Guyger's attorney Toby Shook, pleaded with the jury to be lenient. He recognized the social media posts and racist text messages, but called them just a "snapshot" of his client's life.
Guyger's true character was apparent through her relationship with her friends and family, Shook argued.
He also recognized the recent history of other high-profile police shootings, and asked the jury not to punish his client for shootings other officers have committed, saying this case is not those cases.
"This event wasn't planned," Shook said. "This event is so unique, you'll never see it again in the history of the United States."
Shook noted the spectrum of punishment for a murder charge and said lengthier punishments should be reserved for dangerous criminals, not people who have made mistakes.
"Amber Guyger has a conscience. She's shown true remorse," Shook said. "She feels horrible for what she did, and for the rest of her life, every day, every hour, every minute, she'll think of what she did to Botham Jean and regret it in every bit of her soul."
Guyger had her head turned slightly to watch each attorney speak. She did not testify during the sentencing phase of the trial.
The jury delivered its verdict Tuesday after deliberating for five hours. Her attorneys argued during the trial that jurors should find her not guilty because she made a "mistake of fact" when she thought Jean was a threat. But prosecutors said Guyger made the decision to shoot before she ever pushed the door open.
Jean lived one floor above Guyger at the South Side Flats apartments just blocks from Dallas police headquarters.
The first witness called by the defense was Guyger's mother, who told the jury how Guyger hasn't been the same since shooting Jean.
Karen Guyger said her daughter has told her repeatedly that she wished it was Jean who had shot her when she entered the unarmed man's home.
"She always would tell me she wishes she could've taken his place. She feels very bad about it," she said through tears, holding a crumpled tissue.
She also told the jury how she called police when Amber Guyger was 6, when the mother realized a man she had been dating had sexually molested the girl.
Earlier in the trial, Guyger's defense spoke of how Guyger faced adversity early on in her life and had early interactions with police that made her want to be an officer when she grew up.
Amber Guyger looked straight ahead during most of the morning's testimony. She briefly looked down when her mother testified about when Guyger was molested as a child and again when her mother spoke about her own health problems.
Alana Guyger, Amber Guyger's sister, said that since shooting Jean, her sister "doesn't have the same light or energy that she had before."
"She's expressed to me how she feels bad spending time with her family because he can't be with his," Alana Guyger said.
The defense also called on multiple close friends from Guyger's childhood to testify on her behalf.
Maribel Chavez, a longtime friend, recalled fond memories of Guyger from their time in high school mariachi band.
Chavez and Guyger remained friends as adults, and Chavez said the former cop was a protector who loves being around people. That's changed since the shooting.
"She does not feel like she deserves to have any kind of happiness," Chavez said.
Guyger's sister cried while Amber Guyger's friends testified, frequently wiping away tears. Her father, Bill Guyger, was also in court.
Also taking the stand Wednesday morning was a close friend of Jean's from Harding University in Arkansas.
Alexis Stossel told jurors how she and Jean became fast friends when they met at the Christian school in Arkansas. They started to do everything together and talked or texted every day until he died, she said.
She and Jean had both lived in Dallas for a while, and it was tough for her to decide to move back home to East Texas.
"Deciding to go home meant risking a big Dallas career and risking not seeing my best friend every day," she said.
But Jean encouraged her and reassured her that she was making the right choice. She read text messages Jean had sent her around that time:
"You're absolutely killing it! I just wanted to leave you this message to let you know I fully support your decision to move to Kilgore," one text read. "But this could be the best decision of your life. You'll never know if you never attempt it."
She cried as she recounted how she got a call early the morning of Sept. 7, 2018, when she learned Jean had been killed.
She slumped to the floor and screamed, "Wait, wait, wait, wait!" she said. She called him seven times after that. No answer.
"I have never lost someone this close in my life," she said. "And the feeling is just unexplainable."
Guyger spent her first night in jail when her bond was revoked after Tuesday's guilty verdict.
She had been free on bail and spent less than an hour behind bars both times she was arrested in the case, first for manslaughter and then for murder.
Her defense team brought Guyger a change of clothes to the courthouse Wednesday morning so she wouldn't have to wear her jail uniform.
