News You Ought to Know
Ex-Dallas cop appeals murder conviction in neighbor’s death
DALLAS (AP) — Attorneys for a white former Dallas police officer have filed an appeal of her murder conviction in the killing of her Black neighbor inside his home.
Amber Guyger is serving a 10-year prison sentence for the September 2018 fatal shooting of Botham Jean. She testified at trial that she mistook his apartment for her own and mistook Jean for an intruder when she entered and shot him.
In papers filed Tuesday with the 5th Texas Court of Appeals, her attorneys argue that the evidence presented at her trial last year was “legally insufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Guyger committed murder.” They argue that Guyger had a “reasonable belief” that she was in her own apartment and there was an intruder inside, and that her mistake “negated the culpability of murder because although she intentionally and knowingly caused Jean’s death, she had the right to act in deadly force of self-defense.”
The appeal wants the Dallas-based court to overturn her murder conviction and sentence and order a new trial, or replace it with a conviction for criminally negligent homicide and order a new sentencing hearing. Criminally negligent homicide carries a maximum punishment of two years in jail.
Hotels criticized for taking virus money face investigation
DALLAS (AP) — A group of hotels that took, and later returned, tens of millions of dollars in federal virus-bailout money are under investigation by securities regulators for transactions between companies in the group going back to 2018.
The Ashford companies were among the biggest recipients of federal money that was intended to help small businesses survive the coronavirus pandemic.
The companies disclosed in a regulatory filing this week that they received subpoenas from the Securities and Exchange Commission for transactions that go back long before the pandemic hit. The subpoenas went to Ashford Hospitality Trust, Ashford Inc., and Braemar Hotels & Resorts.
All three companies were founded and are run by Dallas hotelier Monty J. Bennett, a major Republican donor who has given $150,000 to President Donald Trump’s PAC in the past year and $373,250 since 2016, according to Federal Election Commission records.
Court upholds murder sentence of ex-cop who shot Black teen
DALLAS (AP) — A Texas appeals court has upheld the murder conviction and 15-year sentence of a white ex-police officer who fatally shot an unarmed Black teenager in 2017.
The 5th Court of Appeals in Dallas issued its opinion on the former Balch Springs officer’s appeal Monday, The Dallas Morning News reported.
Roy Oliver, who was fired from the Balch Springs Police Department after the shooting, killed 15-year-old Jordan Edwards when he fired into a car packed with teenagers leaving a house party in suburban Dallas. Oliver claimed he had no option but to use lethal force because he says he thought his partner was in danger.
Oliver was found guilty of murder in August 2018 and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. He was also fined $10,000.
In his appeal, Oliver’s lawyers argued there were more than a dozen separate issues with his trial, including that the court allowed evidence it should not have.
The appeals court disagreed.
Four other aggravated assault charges against Oliver were dropped during his appeal, but could be refiled.
Air traffic is down, gun seizures up at US airports
By DAVID KOENIG
F – A lone traveler heads to the north
DALLAS (AP) — With air traffic nearing a five-month high, airport security is finding guns in passenger carry-on bags at three times the rate recorded before the pandemic.
And 80% of the guns are loaded.
The discoveries at airports comes at a time when U.S. gun sales are surging, and analysts believe many of those purchases are being made by first-time buyers.
Officers seized just over 300 guns in July, or 15.3 guns for every million people screened, compared with 5.1 per million people in July of last year, the Transportation Security Administration said Monday.
TSA Administrator David Pekoske said there has been a significant increase in loaded guns at checkpoints. He said screeners are already working in conditions of heightened risks and that “no one should be introducing new ones.”
The number of loaded guns, Pekoske said, “is just an accident waiting to happen.”
Background checks on gun buyers have been rising every month compared with a year earlier since April 2019, but they picked up even faster this year. The number of checks topped 3 million in four of the last five months. They had not exceeded 3 million in one month since December 2015.
FBI figures show that there were more than 3.6 million firearms background checks requested on buyers in July, a 79% increase from July 2019, following a 70% increase in June.
Cowen analyst Cai von Rumohr, who tracks gun sales, said the iu77ncreases are likely due to fear about COVID-19 lockdowns, civil unrest, and former Vice President Joe Biden’s lead over President Donald Trump in polls ahead of the Nov. 3 election “given his more restrictive stance on gun control relative to President Trump.”
“Fear drives a lot of gun sales,” he said.
