‘His death was not in vain’ – Dallas is renaming a street in memory of Botham Jean

A stretch of street in Dallas will now be renamed after Botham Jean, a Black man who was shot and killed in his home by a White police officer in 2018. The Dallas City Council on Wednesday unanimously approved the renaming of the stretch of South Lamar Street between Interstate 30 and South Central Expressway “Botham Jean Boulevard.”

According to CNN, the stretch includes the South Side Flats apartment complex where Jean lived and was killed, and Dallas Police Department headquarters. “Renaming the street in honor of Botham Jean would show the citizens of Dallas that his death was not in vain and show the world his life mattered,” the proposal for the name change, which was put forward by Mayor Pro Tem Adam Medrano, states.

The stretch of road, which will cost an estimated $20,000, will be renamed within 60 days.

Guyger was off-duty when she shot Jean in his home on September 6, 2018. She testified at her trial that she ‘mistakenly’ went to Jean’s apartment, South Side Flats in Dallas, thinking it was hers. The 4-year veteran police officer testified she thought Jean was an intruder.

Jean was a 26-year old graduate of Harding University in Arkansas and a risk assurance associate. The news of his death resulted in the call for disarming of the police, with mourners holding up banners reading “Disarm off duty police,” “Life is not a white privilege” and “Where is justice when police kill us?”

Guyger, who was fired after shooting Jean, was convicted of murder in his death and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Her attorneys filed an appeal last August.

“The evidence was legally insufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Guyger committed murder,” Guyger’s attorneys argued in a court document. They claim Guyger had “the right to act in self-defense since her belief that deadly force was necessary was reasonable under the circumstances.”