HOUSTON (CBSDFW.COM/AP) — Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas says he wishes Democrats weren’t “so quick to always blame the police officer” after challenger Beto O’Rourke suggested that a white officer who shot and killed a black neighbor should be fired. Sen. Cruz told Houston television station KRIV on Saturday that the September 6 deadly shooting of 26-year-old Botham Jean may be something worse than a “horrific misunderstanding” but cautioned against early conclusions. Dallas police officer Amber Guyger has told investigators she mistook Jean’s apartment for her own and thought she encountered a burglar. Cruz is in a competitive race in the midterm elections against O’Rourke for Cruz’s U.S. Senate seat. His comments were in response to an O’Rourke interview in which the Democrat was asked whether Guyger should be fired. O’Rourke said he didn’t “understand how anyone can come to any other conclusion.” Guyger told investigators that she had just ended a 15-hour shift when she returned in uniform to the South Side Flats apartment complex. She parked on the fourth floor, instead of the third, where she lived, according to the affidavit. MORE COVERAGE HERE: Funeral Held For Botham Jean, Man Killed In Apartment By DPD Officer Family To Dallas Officer Who Shot Son In His Apartment: ‘Come Clean’ Protesters Angered By Deadly Dallas Officer Shooting Interrupt Council Meeting Multiple Criminal Defense Lawyers See No Crime In Off-Duty Officer Shooting Dallas Faith Community On Death Of Botham Jean: ‘Just Feels So Wrong’ Minister From Botham Jean’s Church Says ‘Sadness Can’t Be Erased’ (© Copyright 2018 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)<doc-sep>The shooting of Botham Jean, a black man who was killed by an off-duty police officer in his own home in Dallas earlier this month, has made its way to Texas’s Senate race. Democrat Beto O’Rourke recently agreed with calls by Jean’s family and some in Dallas’s broader community for Dallas officer Amber Guyger to be fired. “There has to be a full accounting for how young black men continue to be killed in this country without accountability, without justice, without these full investigations, without respecting their civil rights,” O’Rourke said during a Friday campaign rally. “This cannot continue.” Sen. Ted Cruz had a different response, arguing that people were rushing to judgment on the case and that O’Rourke and other Democrats were “quick to always blame the police officer.” “It may well be that two lives were destroyed that night,” Cruz said. “That obviously the individual that was at home in his apartment and found himself murdered — that is horrific and a nightmare.” He added, “She may have been in the wrong and if a jury of her peers believes that she behaved wrongly then she’ll face the consequences. But I don’t think we should jump to conclusions.” Cruz’s comment comes just days after lawyers representing Jean’s family condemned the release of a search warrant that showed police had looked for drugs in his apartment after the shooting. Lee Merritt, an attorney representing Jean’s family, called the warrant’s contents evidence of a “smear campaign” against Jean. In an interview with the Washington Post, Merritt said that the warrant fit into “a familiar pattern” seen in police shootings involving black victims. “It’s a systemic issue,” Merritt said. “We’ve been conditioned to associate black people with crime.” While the Jean shooting differs from other high-profile police shootings, it’s telling that similar narratives — and fights over them — have emerged. And it has fueled a growing concern that in an incident where Botham Jean was killed in his own home, Amber Guyger is largely being presented as a victim. In high-profile police shootings, black victims are often blamed for their deaths According to Guyger’s account, when she arrived home at the South Side Flats apartments after a long shift on September 6, she didn’t realize she had gotten out on the wrong floor of her building and that the apartment she was in was not, in fact, hers. Seeing a “large silhouette” in the dark apartment, she said she thought she was being burglarized. So she fired her gun, hitting Jean in the chest. When she turned on the lights in the apartment, she realized her mistake. Jean’s family disputes her account, saying Guyger should have noticed signs that she was not at her apartment, and that witnesses alleged hearing her knocking on Jean’s door and yelling. Local reporting has highlighted differences between Guyger’s explanation on September 9 and what was described in a warrant issued shortly after the shooting. Her rendition of events has also been criticized for implying that Jean’s failure to comply with her commands led to him being killed in his own home. The framing of Jean as somehow culpable for his own death is not limited to the arrest affidavit. As the Atlantic’s Adam Serwer notes, NRA spokesperson Dana Loesch recently argued that Jean might still be alive if he had a gun. Serwer points out that this argument is an example of a catch-22 for black men killed by police: “There are no circumstances in which the responsibility for a police shooting of an unarmed black person cannot be placed on the victim.” That’s partially because America’s laws and cultural conversation about policing both afford significant deference to police officers, and it remains rare for them to be tried or convicted in police shootings. According to research from Philip Stinson, an associate professor at Bowling Green State University, out of 80 officers charged with murder or manslaughter for on-duty shootings between 2005 and April 2017, roughly 35 percent were convicted. Another result of this is that when an officer violates policy, his or her victim’s transgressions may get the most scrutiny. A 2016 paper published in the Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment found that there have been several high-profile police shootings — including of Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, and Eric Garner — where things like a victim’s criminal record, appearance, or behavior “posthumously criminalized” them. In other cases, an acknowledgment of police wrongdoing is still followed by the supposed misdeeds of the dead, as was the case for a Florida man whose family was given just $4 in a wrongful death suit. The amount was attributed to a jury’s determination that the man’s intoxication played a role in his death. To be fair, there are aspects of this narrative that don’t fully apply to the Jean shooting. Guyger was off-duty, for example, and legal experts like South Texas College of Law Houston professor Kenneth Williams say it might be harder for Guyger to utilize a “deadly force” defense if she is tried as a civilian, rather than as a police officer. But the attention that has been paid to explaining how she ended up in the wrong apartment and the details of her account have only increased concerns and frustrations that after years of unsuccessful demands for police accountability, Guyger may end up as yet another police officer who goes unpunished for a fatal shooting.<doc-sep>DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) – Dallas County District Attorney Faith Johnson issued a lengthy statement Monday on the investigation into the deadly shooting of Botham Jean by off-duty Dallas Police officer Amber Guyger on September 26 in Jean’s apartment. As many in the community call for justice, Johnson said a rush to judgment serves no one and called for “calm in our communities until all the facts are known and presented to a Grand Jury.” Johnson said it is up to her office to determine how and why Guyger shot and killed Jean. She said to protect the integrity of the case, her office can’t talk yet about the evidence or witness statements the DA’s office has gathered. Here is Faith Johnson’s complete statement: As your District Attorney, I want you to know that I am committed to aggressively pursuing and investigating the shooting death of 26-year-old Botham Shem Jean by Dallas Police Officer Amber Guyger that occurred on Thursday, September 6, 2018 – as I am with every case that’s presented to the DAs Office. But I want to stress that a rush to judgement serves no one. Dallas Police Officer Amber Guyger has admitted to shooting and killing Botham Jean. It is now up to my office to determine how and why it happened and how justice can best be served in this case. Now is the time to ask for calm in our communities until all the facts are known and presented to a Grand Jury. I also am asking citizens to have faith and patience during the investigation process. You have my word that no stone will be left unturned as we work to uncover all the facts in this case. Some citizens have asked for a timeline for when this case will go the Grand Jury. While we are working as quickly and efficiently as we can, it’s impossible to give an exact timeline for completion of this investigation. When a decision by the Grand Jury is made we will provide that information to the public. I want the public to know that I have met with the Jean family on numerous occasions and remain in contact with them. I have assured them that my office is dedicated to uncovering the truth about what happened to their loved one; Botham Jean, a son, a brother, a nephew who was deeply loved by his family. I ask for your continued prayers for the Jean family. As you know, the shooting occurred on Thursday, September 6 and the Botham Jean case was officially turned over to the DAs Office by the Texas Rangers on Sunday, September 9, after the Rangers completed their initial investigation. The Rangers’ fuller investigation is ongoing. The District Attorney’s Public Integrity Division Response team was deployed the night of the shooting and immediately began its own independent investigation with a team of experienced investigators, prosecutors and other professional staff. The District Attorney’s Office becomes involved to ensure a fully transparent and unbiased investigation conducted by an independent, uninvolved law enforcement agency. The DA is now taking the lead on this case. The team that I put together includes three prosecutors and two investigators from Public Integrity, an appellate prosecutor and an intake/grand jury prosecutor, a victim’s rights coordinator, and a forensic digital media analyst. I believe it’s important for the public to understand that from the moment the Texas Rangers issued a warrant for manslaughter for Amber Guyger, and the case was turned over to my office, my team has worked around the clock to gather evidence, issue search warrants and talk to witnesses in the pursuit of justice in his case. It is my duty as your DA, to follow the law every step of the way and to maintain the integrity of this case and every case presented to my office. That’s why I am asking the citizens of Dallas County to allow my team the necessary time to complete their investigation. While I understand that many citizens are outraged over the shooting and have a lot of unanswered questions right now, I urge you to allow the legal process to work. I can assure you that my team is working night and day to get to the bottom of what happened on the night of September 6. You must also understand the importance of protecting the integrity of the case. To protect the integrity of the case, we cannot yet talk about the evidence we have gathered or the witnesses that we have talked to. Releasing details of any case before an investigation is completed is extremely detrimental. It can cause evidence to be thrown out or allow a change of venue in a trial in the event a jury pool is tainted by leaked information. I want everyone to know that the Jean case is a top priority for me and my office and I’m asking everyone in our community to wait until all the facts are known and to have patience during the investigation process. Faith Johnson Dallas County District Attorney<doc-sep>
Photo : Chip Somodevilla ( Getty Images ) Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, the grown-up Eddie Munster, thinks that challenger Rep. Beto O’Rourke was wrong to rush to judgment when he criticized the shooting of Botham Jean, the 26-year-old black man who was shot dead in his own home by a Dallas police officer. “It’s possible what happened was a horrifying and horrific misunderstanding, or it may be something else,” Cruz told Fox 26 Houston in an interview Sunday. “And that’s why we have a legal justice system, to actually learn what the facts are and learn what happened. I wish Beto O’Rourke and Democrats weren’t so quick to always blame the police officer, always attack the police officer.” If you don’t know the story by now—seriously where have you been? No, really. Why don’t you know this story? Amber Guyger, a white Dallas police officer, walked into Jean’s apartment and shot him dead. Guyger claimed that she somehow confused Jean’s apartment, which reportedly had a red rug out front, with her own apartment, which was one floor below. She also allegedly believed that the man inside the apartment was an intruder. According to Fox 4 News Dallas-Fort Worth, during a rally O’Rourke, like many of us who laughed at the seven people who burned their Nikes after learning that Colin Kaepernick and his glorious afro found this story of mixed-up apartments hard to believe, noted that Guyger needed to be fired. “I don’t understand, given the actions, how anyone can come to any other conclusion,” O’Rourke said. Cruz, on the other hand, thinks that there could be a good explanation as to what happened and that O’Rourke shouldn’t jump to conclusions. “She may have been in the wrong. She’s facing legal proceedings and if a jury of her peers concludes that she behaved wrongly, then she’ll face the consequences,” he said, referring to Guyger. “But I don’t think we should jump to conclusions. It may have been just a horrific understanding with horrifying consequences.” Also it should be pointed out that Cruz is an idiot who once criticized O’Rourke for using the name Beto, when Cruz’s real name is Rafael. But Ted Cruz has a history of siding with law enforcement and accepting the results of legal proceedings. Except when it came to Hillary Clinton’s emails, Benghazi, his own campaign donations and the IRS investigating claims against conservatives.