A week after former police officer Amber Guyger was found guilty of murdering Botham Jean in his own home, his neighbor who acted as a key prosecution witness in the trial was found dead.
The Dallas District Attorney’s office confirmed that Joshua Brown was shot dead on Friday night at his Dallas apartment complex, according to CBS News.
Attorney Lee Merritt, who represents Jean’s family, said Brown was shot at close range in the parking lot of the complex. A government official told The Dallas Morning News that Brown, 28, was shot in the back and thigh.
Brown reportedly had since moved out of the apartment complex where he was neighbors with Jean.
On Sept. 24, 2019, Brown testified that he’d heard what sounded like two people "meeting by surprise" followed by two shots on Sept. 6, 2018, the night Jean was killed.
Brown said he did not hear any police commands, such as "show me your hands," as Guyger claimed she shouted before shooting Jean. Under cross-examination, Brown said he wasn’t able to tell what the two were saying.
Last week, Brown delivered an emotional testimony before Guyger was sentenced to 10 years in prison for murdering Jean in his own home. She’d claimed she’d mistaken his apartment for her own, thinking he was an intruder.
“He was a more important witness than folks understood. Whether or not he was so important that somebody would want to take him out because he testified in this case, I can’t say right now,” Merritt told KTVT.
Merritt said a full investigation is necessary.
"He bravely came forward to testify when others wouldn't. If we had more people like him, we would have a better world," Lee Hermus, the lead prosecutor in Guyger's case, told The Dallas Morning News.
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