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Officer Guyger,
initially going to the wrong parking lot floor and missing
several clues that she was not at her apartment which was a
floor above, went into the partially opened door of the soon
to-be-doomed Mr. Jean.
The officer drew her
service gun and fired at the shadow of Mr. Jean as he arose
from his resting place to find out who was coming into his
home.
The officer,
testifying at her jury trial, tried the usual police phrase
of, “I feared for my life thinking a burglar was inside my
unit” and fired the kill shot into the heart of the
defenseless man.
Jean was a dead man
before he could even apprehend what was transpiring in real
time. He had no time to stop his killing.
He was a victim of being a
black male confronted by a white cop who thought he was an
imminent danger.
How many times have
we heard that line from police officers who are confronted
as to why they used deadly force when there was no
appreciable deadly force opposing them?
At the jury trial, she
took the stand and did the usual song and dance that she was
tired after working a long shift and was not attentive to
the details that would have alerted her that she was
entering the wrong unit.
No matter. A black
man who had a promising career as an accountant lay dead in
his own unit at the hands of a white police officer who, at
her trial, heard recordings of her prior racially-tinged
statements that indicated that black people were not her
favorite first choice of people.
The jury, which had
people of color on it, did not buy her trail of bitter
tears; and how she wished that she was the dead one and not
Mr. Jean, a 26-year-old, who hailed from the isle of St.
Lucia.
The jury found her
guilty of murder and that same jury subsequently decided
that she should serve 10 years in jail.
Not a great jury verdict
but at least she was convicted of murder of a black man
while acting as a police officer.
According to most
commentators, her sentence should have been much higher,
even if she got points for being a cop.
The reason being that
she could have prevented this killing by being more prudent
in using deadly force and also by extricating herself from
the apartment and waiting for backup (Note: by that time,
she would have realized that she was on the wrong floor and
at the wrong apartment unit!).
That was Officer
Guyger’s first break – a break in being sentenced to just 10
years for a senseless shooting that was totally preventable.
Her second break was
what stunned the court, the judge, the courtroom audience
and the viewing public at her sentencing hearing.
During the time that
the family of the victim is allowed to make statements
regarding the impact that this killing had on the family
member, Botham’s brother (Brandt) took the stand and spoke
kindly of the shooter, not wishing any harm to her and not
wanting her to rot in prison and that he forgave her for
killing his big brother.
Not only that, but the
little brother after he basically blessed her and gave her
his insight as to why, he as a Christian, must demonstrate
the paragon virtue of Christ like forgiveness, He asked the
court to allow him to go hug the shooter!
At the hugging, there
apparently was not a dry eye in the court as the brother,
who lost his brother, is embracing the killer of his family
member with a long tight hug (Yes, the shooter is also
crying and returning the embrace).
If that was not
enough, the brother had the presence of mind to gently tell
shooter that if she were to ask God, God would also forgive
her of this terrible, terrible injustice.
The brother spoke with
sincerity and compassion and with no hate or malice but was
acting as an oracle of God in demonstrating the width and
depth of godly forgiveness and compassion.
The brother’s
rationale for this superhuman act of non-retribution was the
same as said by his father on CNN when asked how this could
be done, the father quoted scriptures wherein Jesus said,
“As I have forgiven you, you must also forgive those who
have wrong you.”
If there ever was a
graphic demonstration of unvarnished agape love, the brother
demonstrated it to a jaded and cynical watching world that
in the end, love triumphs over evil; and do not let hate,
like a voracious bitter worm, eat your insides out.
Brandt Jean, the
offended and heartbroken brother, stood in the place of
Jesus the Christ at this hearing and offered peace and
reconciliation to a stranger who was in a dark and faraway
bad place seeking a way home.
Contact Lafe Tolliver at
tolliver@juno.com
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