Botham Jean was inside his Dallas apartment when officer Amber Guyger barged in, shot and killed him. Guyger’s reasoning was she assumed there was an intruder inside her home.
Now two months after Jean’s death, Dallas’ new district attorney wants to charge Guyger for murder. “It’s not wanting to be the district attorney,” John Creuzot said. “It’s about wanting to implement change.”
The District-Attorney Elect will be sworn in January 1, 2019, after defeating Republican Faith Johnson. She held the position since 2016 after being appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott. Creuzot’s first objective said first on his to-do list will be to train the counselors in the office.
“There are a lot of good prosecutors in the Dallas County District Attorney’s office who want to do the right thing. They just haven’t been shown what the right thing is,” he said to local reporters.
Johnson received criticism for the handling of Guyger, who was subsequently terminated from the Dallas police department and charged with manslaughter. Many believed a murder charge should’ve been handed down. Creuzot said if the case hasn’t been tried by the time he takes office then that’ll be the first thing on his docket.
“I don’t know any police reports. I don’t know any forensic reports, but based on what I have seen, manslaughter is an inappropriate charge, based on the circumstances as I understand them,” said Creuzot. “Once I get in there and I get everything in front of me and it appears the most appropriate charge is murder, then that’s the charge we will go forward with.”
Guyger’s manslaughter charge rejuvenated conversation police are often given preferential treatment even in murders of innocent people, something Creuzot is well aware of.
“They need to be held accountable like anyone else. 99.9 percent of our police officers are great people and doing it for the right reason, but there are going to be those individuals out there who are going to shoot and hurt and kill someone and they need to be held accountable just like you and I would be held accountable,” he said.
READ MORE: Amber Guyger’s Lawyer Calls “Firing” Unfair Following Botham-Jean Murder