DALLAS _ The prosecution rested Thursday in Amber Guyger's murder case, but not before contrasting the lifesaving efforts of first responders trying to revive Botham Jean with Guyger: texting on her phone in a spotless uniform.
"What you guys did was exceptionally heroic," lead prosecutor Jason Hermus told Dallas Officer Tu Nguyen, one of the first officers at the scene of last September's shooting at the South Side Flats apartments.
Guyger, 31, was off duty but still in her Dallas police uniform Sept. 6, 2018, when she fatally shot her upstairs neighbor in his apartment near downtown.
Her defense has said she made an "awful and tragic, but innocent" mistake, saying she confused Jean's apartment for her own after parking on the wrong floor of the garage at the complex.
Jurors again watched body camera video Thursday showing officers trying to revive Jean after he was shot in his Dallas apartment as he watched football and ate a bowl of ice cream.
In the aftermath of the shooting, the footage from Nguyen's body cam shows the officer raising Jean's feet onto a pillow to move the blood back to his heart. By then he was going into shock because his heart had been torn apart by the bullet.
Hermus asked Nguyen what Jean's "condition of life" was at that point.
"It was faint," the officer responded.
Hermus zeroed in on the placement of Jean's sandals, a focus for much of the trial because defense attorneys say they show Jean's close proximity to Guyger when she fired. Prosecutors, on the other hand, argue the shoes were moved while officers tended to the dying man and can't be relied on as evidence.
Nguyen testified that he moved the sandals away from Jean and toward the door closer to where Guyger was when she fired. He said he moved one shoe just a little and the other farther away because it was in between Jean's legs.
Hermus told Nguyen that asking about items moved in the apartment wasn't a criticism. The prosecutor didn't want the officer to think he'd done anything wrong.
The defense wants to show that Guyger was reasonable _ although ultimately wrong _ in her belief that Jean was an intruder and her life was in danger when she shot him. They want to prove Jean was as near to Guyger when she shot him as they can.
But state District Judge Tammy Kemp has not allowed testimony suggesting that Jean's sandals show where he was when he was shot because they were moved.
Testimony Thursday from Texas Ranger Michael Adcock showed Jean's body was 13 to 15 feet from the door.
Adcock also testified that Guyger had no blood on her uniform after being tested with chemicals and light. Blue latex gloves in her uniform also showed no visible signs of blood and appeared to be unused, the Ranger said.
The arrest warrant affidavit for Guyger said she performed CPR but Hermus, the prosecutor, appears to be showing jurors that she made no attempt to save Jean's life. He also showed the jury photos of Guyger in the hallway texting on her phone while police officers performed CPR inside the apartment.
Hermus also showed jurors photos other items Guyger had with her that could have been used instead of her gun, including a Taser and pepper spray.
The prosecution has also called attention to visual cues that would have alerted her that she was at the wrong apartment and questioned how she missed them.
Jurors got a glimpse inside Guyger's apartment Thursday, as prosecutors tried to show clear differences between her apartment and Jean's.
Hermus called on a Dallas police detective and Rangers to testify, and showed the jury photos and videos each official took of Guyger's apartment during their investigation of the shooting.
The prosecutor had Detective Stephen Cleary observe photos he took of his path to Guyger's apartment on the third floor and noted she didn't have a red doormat like Jean's.
Hermus noted a difference in Guyger's television size, a lack of wall art behind her couch, and a lack of a living room rug as a few examples of differences in Guyger's apartment. He also pointed out an empty space in Guyger's living room where Jean's ottoman was positioned in the apartment above.
"Do you see a large round ottoman anywhere in this photograph?" Hermus asked the detective.
"No, sir. I do not," Cleary replied.
Robert Rogers, one of Guyger's attorneys, questioned each official about the similarities of each floor during cross examination. He asked the detective if there were any noticeable visual indicators that would made it obvious for the detective to tell which floor he was on in the apartment hallways, and Cleary said there weren't any.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, jurors heard from Texas Ranger David Armstrong, who testified that it was a common occurrence for residents of the complex to get confused, especially on the third and fourth floors where Guyger and Jean lived.
As the lead investigator for the shooting after Dallas police handed the case over to the Rangers, Armstrong led a team that interviewed 297 of the apartment's 349 residents. Of those, Armstrong testified, 46 of them had walked to the wrong floor and put their key in the door, as Guyger did.
Outside the presence of the jury, Armstrong said he didn't believe there Guyger committed a crime when she shot Jean. He was the law enforcement officer who got a manslaughter arrest warrant for Guyger before she was later indicted on the murder charge she is being tried on. Kemp didn't allow him to testify before jurors about that after Hermus argued jurors, not the Ranger, were the ultimate judges in the case.
Guyger's defense team will begin calling witnesses Friday morning. Court recessed for the day around 2 p.m. CDT, after the state rested.
During opening statements, one of Guyger's attorneys said jurors would hear from the former officer herself during the trial. It's unclear when she would take the stand to testify.
