The fired Dallas officer faces five to 99 years or life in prison as the punishment phase of her trial begins.

Botham Jean’s mother, Allison Jean, rejoices in the courtroom after fired Dallas police Officer Amber Guyger was found guilty of murder Tuesday by a Dallas County jury. 

This story is being continuously updated.

A Dallas County jury on Tuesday convicted fired police officer Amber Guyger of murder for fatally shooting Botham Jean in his apartment last year.

The victim’s mother, Allison Jean, raised her arms in exultation as cheers broke out in the hallway outside the courtroom when the verdict was announced shortly after 10:30 a.m., following five hours of deliberation by the jury.

“God is good. Trust him,” Jean said as she walked out of the court and into a jubilant crowd of supporters outside.

Testimony in the punishment phase of Guyger’s trial will proceed this afternoon, with another round of jury deliberations to come after that. In Texas, murder carries a sentence of five to 99 years or life in prison. The charge is not eligible for probation.

Guyger, 31, fatally shot 26-year-old Jean in his apartment last year. She had said she mistook his apartment for her own and thought Jean was a burglar. She is the first Dallas officer convicted of murder since the 1970s.

Jurors began deliberating Monday afternoon after the prosecution and Guyger’s defense presented closing arguments.

After hearing the verdict, Guyger stood still until the jury left. Then, she sank into her chair.

As state District Judge Tammy Kemp read the verdict and quickly called a recess, Allison Jean leaned her head back before standing and raising her arms to the sky, the emotion evident on her face.

Her daughter, Allisa Findley, slumped in her seat, put her face in her hands and wept. Jean’s grandmother raised her right fist in the air as she left the courtroom.

Lee Merritt, an attorney representing the Jeans, said the family would testify during the punishment phase of the trial.

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Read more: Dallas leaders react to the ‘guilty’ verdict, expressing relief and hope for peace

More than two dozen bailiffs lined the courtroom and the hallway outside. Patches on some of their uniforms indicated they were with the tactical unit, though they had no extra gear.

At one point, one bailiff asked another whether they had enough people to handle the crowd. “No,” another responded.

The crowd in the hallway after the verdict was boisterous but not unruly. When prosecutors walked out, people gave them a round of raucous applause and cheers.

In the hallway, Guyger’s mother was shaking.

1/3Amber Guyger was escorted from the courtroom after she was found guilty of murder Tuesday in a Dallas courtroom.

2/3Amber Guyger sits alone in the courtroom after being found guilty of murder Tuesday.

3/3State District Judge Tammy Kemp addresses attorneys from both the defense and prosecution after Tuesday’s guilty verdict. The punishment phase was expected to begin in the afternoon. 

Guyger left the court about 15 minutes after the verdict. She returned to the courtroom when the sentencing phase of her trial began about 1:30 p.m.

After the verdict, Ben Crump, an attorney for the Jean family, said 26-year-old Jean was a “near perfect” person.

Read more: 5 key moments in Amber Guyger’s murder trial for killing Botham Jean

“This jury had to make history in America today, because Botham was the best that we had to offer,” Crump said. “Twenty-six year old, college-educated black man, certified public accountant, working for one of the big three accounting firms in the world, PricewaterhouseCoopers.”

“But it shouldn’t take all of that for unarmed black and brown people in America to get justice,” Crump said.

1/4Attorneys Daryl K. Washington (left) and Ben Crump raise the hands of Botham Jean’s mother, Allison Jean (center), after Tuesday’s guilty verdict in the trial of Amber Guyger.

2/4Ben Crump, flanked by fellow Jean family attorneys Daryl K. Washington and Lee Merritt, said the guilty verdict was a victory “for so many black and brown unarmed human beings all across America.”

3/4Allison Jean (center) and her husband, Bertrum, listen to their lawyers speak to reporters after Tuesday’s verdict.

4/4Allison Jean wears bracelets bearing her son’s name after the guilty verdict in the shooting death of Botham Jean.

Crump said the verdict wasn’t just for Jean and his family.

“This verdict is for Trayvon Martin,” he said, ”it’s for Michael Brown, it’s for Sandra Bland, it’s for Tamir Rice, it’s for Eric Garner, it’s for Antwon Rose, it’s for Jemel Roberson, for EJ Bradford, for Stephon Clark, for Jeffrey Dennis, Genevieve Dawes, for Pamela Turner.”

“O’Shae Terry,” interjected Merritt, who also represents the Jeans.

“For so many black and brown unarmed human beings all across America,” Crump continued, holding Allison Jean’s hand in the air, “this verdict today is for them. Everybody can raise their hands — this verdict is for them. This verdict is for them.”

About 2:30 p.m., Allison Jean took the stand, telling the jury how her middle child, Botham, was the “glue” between his older sister, Allisa, and younger brother, Brandt, who are separated by a 20-year age difference.

“Botham was also this take charge type of person, so he was always giving advice both to Allisa and to Brandt,” she said.

Sobbing at times, the proud mother talked about Botham Jean’s many interests, from rugby to a lifelong love for singing.

Prosecutor LaQuita Long showed the jury photos of Botham Jean growing up, including a photo with him and his grandmother at his high school graduation. In the photo, he’s beaming, holding a trophy that his mother said was given to the top student for discipline and academic excellence.

Allison Jean told the jury how one time her son flew from Arkansas to St. Lucia to surprise her for Mother’s Day. She thought she must have been dreaming when she heard him call her “GG,” his nickname for her, short for Governor General.

Then her testimony turned to the day last September when she heard her son had been killed at his home in Dallas.

“My life has not been the same,” she said. ”It’s just been like a roller coaster. I cannot sleep. I cannot eat. It’s just been the most terrible time for me.”

It’s been a test for the entire Jean family, she said, but perhaps most difficult for Botham Jean’s teenage brother, Brandt.

“I’m very concerned about him because he’s just been very, very quiet,” she said. “He doesn’t speak much. So I’m not sure what’s going through his mind.”

Before the jury returned to the courtroom after a recess for lunch, the judge overruled the defense’s objections to the jury hearing evidence from Guyger’s personnel and social media records.

The jury may hear about Guyger’s application for employment by the Dallas Police Department, in which she admits that she stole a pencil and a brownie once, used marijuana and had previously been denied employment from Fort Worth police.

Jurors also seem likely to hear about various texts from Guyger that the defense argued were prejudicial.

Outside, on the steps of the courthouse, activists from Jean’s native St. Lucia and elsewhere began celebrating shortly after the verdict was read.

Safiya Paul, a St. Lucian immigrant, was wrapped in the blue, yellow and black flag of the Caribbean nation.

Paul and another activist, Tamara Neil, were in the courtroom when the verdict was read. Neil said the hallway after was “full of joyous energy.”

“This is how you celebrate a black life,” Neil said. “Can you imagine how big Botham is smiling right now? Like, his life really mattered. … At last we can stand in the same room as justice.”

“Yes!” Paul shouted.

“God, it feels good,” Neil said. “If he was here, what do you think Botham would be saying right now?”

“He would be singing,” Paul said.

1/2Allison Jean wears bracelets with her son’s name on them after a Dallas County jury delivered a guilty verdict Tuesday in her son’s shooting death last September.

2/2Botham Jean’s mother, Allison Jean (center), and family members listen as their lawyers speak to reporters after a jury convicted former Dallas Police Officer Amber Guyger of murder on October 1, 2019 at the Frank Crowley Courts Building in Dallas. 

Before the verdict, as their deliberations entered a second day, jurors were given the option to consider the “castle doctrine,” known as Texas’ “Stand Your Ground” law. The law was clearly on their minds first thing Tuesday morning.

An attorney for the Jean family, Daryl K. Washington, told reporters that the jury sent two notes to state District Judge Tammy Kemp, asking for clarification on the charge of manslaughter — they had a choice of murder, manslaughter or outright acquittal — and for more information about the castle doctrine.

“If Amber Guyger is allowed to use that defense … what would’ve happened if Botham would’ve shot her for coming into his home?” Washington said, citing the jury’s question. “Would he have been able to use the castle doctrine?”

Testimony stretched across six days after the trial began Sept. 23. Jurors had heard from officers who responded first to the scene the night of the shooting and watched how they frantically tried to save Jean’s life.

They also heard from people who lived at the apartment complex where Guyger and Jean lived, as well as testimony from a medical examiner, a crime scene analyst and the Texas Rangers’ lead investigator for the shooting.

Guyger’s defense team had urged the jury to think “coolly and calmly” about the case, which they cast as a tragic mistake. They have said Guyger made a “series of horrible mistakes” that led to her shooting Jean out of fear for her life.

But the prosecution said arguments of self-defense don’t apply to Guyger because Jean was not a threat. They said Guyger had other options besides killing Jean and that she acted unreasonably by failing to notice she wasn’t at her apartment.

Here’s a look back at a few key moments during the trial:

• Guyger was her defense team’s first witness when she took the stand Friday, telling jurors how she would always regret the night she killed Jean. The prosecution suggested she cared more about herself that night.
• The Texas Ranger who led the investigation into the shooting told jurors how common it was for apartment residents to wind up on the wrong floor of the South Side Flats complex where Guyger and Jean lived. Of the 297 residents his team interviewed, 46 had walked to the wrong floor and put their key in a door that wasn’t their own.
• The Ranger, David Armstrong, said outside the presence of the jury that he believed Guyger was reasonable when she shot Jean and that he didn’t believe she committed a crime. (He was the law enforcement officer who obtained her arrest warrant on a manslaughter charge.)
• The prosecution showed a series of explicit texts Guyger and her married police partner, Martin Rivera, had exchanged the day of the shooting. The state tried to argue that Guyger wasn’t tired that night, but instead distracted by possible plans they said she had to meet up with Rivera.
• Jurors also saw body-camera footage of the frantic attempts officers made that night to save Jean, who lay dying on his apartment floor.