Advertisement

newsCrime

How Botham Jean's mom became a voice for her son after he was killed by Dallas officer Amber Guyger

Allison Jean says "I will speak out" for her son and victims of gun violence or police brutality.

Allison Jean has been in the public eye ever since her son was killed by an off-duty Dallas police officer in his own home a year ago Friday.

Botham Jean
Botham Jean(Instagram)

She's become Botham Jean's voice and spoken out for other victims of gun violence in the year since the 26-year-old was slain at the South Side Flats apartments south of downtown Dallas.

She spoke with The Dallas Morning News by telephone from her home in Castries, St. Lucia, about her "roller coaster of a year."

It was on Sept. 6, 2018, that Jean was killed in his apartment by Dallas police Officer Amber Guyger. She was in uniform and used her service weapon. Guyger was charged with murder and fired from the Dallas Police Department.

Advertisement

Jury selection begins Friday and her trial is slated to begin Sept. 23. Guyger, now 31, told investigators that she thought Jean's apartment was her own and she mistook him for a burglar.

Crime in The News

Read the crime and public safety news your neighbors are talking about.

Or with:

Jean, who moved to the U.S. to attend college and later worked as an accountant, grew up in St. Lucia in a peach two-story home atop a hill with winding roads and a view of the Caribbean.

His mother still lives in that home, and Jean is buried in a cemetery by that sea.

Advertisement

Here's how his mother remembers him:

The childhood home of Botham Jean and current home of the Jean family in Castries, St. Lucia.
The childhood home of Botham Jean and current home of the Jean family in Castries, St. Lucia.(Vernon Bryant / Staff Photographer)

What should people know about Botham Jean?

Botham was a fun-loving person, very affable, a people person, loved to have people around him. He was an avid Christian, lived a lot on Christian principles. He loved to sing at church. He also did some preaching, and he worked a lot in the community. He focused a lot on the youth, especially the delinquent youth and the orphans. He also focused on the elderly. So, he reached out to most of the senior citizen homes in St. Lucia.

Advertisement

In his job as an accountant for PricewaterhouseCoopers, he was very, very focused. He knew what he wanted in life and just everything that he did up to the time of his death showed that he maintained his focus on what he wanted.

He dreamed of one day returning to St. Lucia to become prime minister.

Allison Jean, Botham Shem Jean's mother, left listens along with Bertrum Jean, Botham Jean's...
Allison Jean, Botham Shem Jean's mother, left listens along with Bertrum Jean, Botham Jean's father, Allisa Findley, Botham Jean's sister and the family's lawyer Lee Merritt, right during a press conference after Amber Guyger was indicted for murder on Nov. 30, 2018. (Shaban Athuman / Staff Photographer)

How has this past year been since Botham Jean's death?

It's been rough, a roller coaster of a year, and I was just saying to a friend of mine that as [the trial] gets closer, there's much greater anxiety. And my life has just changed altogether. Even how though I want to try to dismiss it, put it behind me, try not to think about it, it is just very, very, very difficult living without Botham. There are so many things that I want to talk to him about. It's just been terrible. I don't even know how to explain it. Sometimes, I don't even know how I feel.

And at the same time, I have to try to keep my family together. I have to keep Allisa and Brandt together because Botham was my middle child. My kids were 10 years apart. The span between Allisa and Brandt is now 20 years. Botham was the one who kept them together.

Allison and Bertrum Jean hold a photo of their son Botham Jean at their home in Castries,...
Allison and Bertrum Jean hold a photo of their son Botham Jean at their home in Castries, St. Lucia.(Vernon Bryant / Staff Photographer)

What do you want to come out of the trial? 

I just want what Botham deserves, which is justice. That's all I want. I don't know that anywhere in the world someone can walk into another person's sanctuary and murder an unarmed person. This is the last way that I believe Botham thought he would have died, and that's the last way I thought he would have died because he never put himself in a situation where he could come into contact with people bearing guns and shooting and so on. Botham was not, never dabbled in anything that would ever cause that. So for it to happen to him, it is an injustice. It is wrong, and therefore, I just need the courts do what's right.

Advertisement

What is justice?

Justice is punishing the person who did him wrong. Simply, that's how I see it.

I have no control over it, so I'm not raising my expectations, but I just want to see that there is punishment, that there's a conviction for murder, and the corresponding punishment that goes along with it. That's all I'm looking for.

Two signs for Botham Jean are displayed at the Ministry of Education, Human Resource...
Two signs for Botham Jean are displayed at the Ministry of Education, Human Resource Development & Labour Education office District 4 in Castries, St. Lucia on Monday, September 24, 2018. Jean was shot and killed in his apartment by off-duty Dallas police officer Amber Guyger(Vernon Bryant / Staff Photographer)
Advertisement

How did St. Lucia respond to Botham Jean's death?

This afternoon, a young child pointed me out to her mom and said, "This is Botham's mom." She couldn't be more than 8 years old. St. Lucians are still very anxious to have the trial, to see the trial, and to get justice for him. Everywhere I pass, people ask about it. Very often updates are provided in the news.

I must thank my fellow citizens. They have stood with me throughout this. I'm really, really grateful. So I believe they will be anxiously waiting for that verdict to see what is going to happen. The United States must realize that this is not just a local case. This is an international case. It touched someone who belonged to somewhere else. And just the same way, if an American was killed in St. Lucia, the demand for justice from America would be widespread. Similarly, the reverse is true. So I've gotten support from my prime minister, from the leader of the opposition, from several high ranking, from the governor general who is the head of state. Everybody's glued and watching what is going to be happening.

View of Castries, St. Lucia in  September 2018. Botham Jean grew up in Castries with his...
View of Castries, St. Lucia in September 2018. Botham Jean grew up in Castries with his parents and two siblings. He was 10 years younger than his sister and 10 years older than his brother.(Vernon Bryant / Staff Photographer)
Advertisement

You have become a voice for your son since his death but also for other victims of violence. How did that come about?

I never knew I would find myself in that role, but recognizing what happened to Botham, it has now associated me with persons who have been through a similar fate. I am now serving as an advocate for all these persons. So, for those killed by gun violence, those killed by police brutality, I will speak out.

Why have you filed a federal civil lawsuit against Amber Guyger and the city of Dallas?

Amber Guyger
Amber Guyger(Mesquite PD)

It's basically to ensure that the right training is given to police officers. The use of force ought to be more measured and used in the right way. I cannot say that every police shooting is unwarranted or unjustified because the police have to protect themselves. Pulling the trigger is not justified when there is an unarmed individual.

Amber Guyger was in her uniform but off duty. Do you see this as a police shooting?

Of course it is. She did everything as a police officer. She issued verbal commands. She was in uniform. She used her service weapon. She had her police equipment. Everything she did was a police officer. And if she was just a common citizen, we wouldn't even be talking today because that person would be in jail by now.

Advertisement

Allison Jean is the CEO of the St. Lucia's National Utilities Regulatory Commission, which regulates the country's water, sewage and electricity. Her responses have been edited for clarity and space. She helped start the Botham Jean Foundation after his death.

Read more about Botham Jean and Amber Guyger.

Allison Jean raises her hands in the air as she leans on her son, Brandt, during a prayer...
Allison Jean raises her hands in the air as she leans on her son, Brandt, during a prayer service for her son and Brandt's brother, Botham Shem Jean, at the Dallas West Church of Christ on Sept. 9, 2018.(Shaban Athuman / Staff Photographer)