That Dallas Case

You may or may not have heard of the case in Dallas where a police officer goes home, mistakenly thinks she is in her apartment (but she is not), and shoots the resident of the apartment in the mistaken belief that he is a burglar.

The jury heard the case and came back with a verdict.  Guilty.

A Dallas jury has found former police Officer Amber Guyger guilty of murder for fatally shooting a neighbor who lived in the apartment directly above hers last year. She had testified that she entered Botham Jean's unit after a long day at work, thinking it was her own home and that he was an intruder.

That's probably the correct verdict.  Guyger was relying (as I understand her defense) on the Castle Doctrine, and I though that was a stretch.  How do you walk into an apartment and not immediately realize that what you are looking at is not your furniture?

The jury took five hours to decide Guyger had committed murder, rather than a lesser charge of manslaughter. Jurors were to begin considering sentencing options Tuesday afternoon. Guyger faces a possible punishment of five to 99 years in prison.

By all accounts, the victim was sitting in his apartment on his couch, eating ice cream when Guyger came i the door.  The mind boggles.