After some difficulty with the instructions concerning manslaughter and "reasonable mistake" (which the nervous court declined to clarify), the jury came in with a verdict of guilty on the charge of murder. This suggests in context that they found the defendant's mistake (or collective mistakes) in the death of Botham Jean to be "unreasonable," and so rejected the self-defense thesis in its entirety. At that point, the jurors probably saw no other basis for the lesser-included charge of manslaughter, and came back with the murder verdict accordingly.
Assuming the instructions given by the court were the formula instructions for the offenses charged and the claim of self-defense, the case seems unlikely to be reversed on appeal, notwithstanding the interim notes from the jury showing some confusion with the elements. The jury did its job, and tied the case out on the facts as instructed by the court.
Black racist Ben Crump, never missing an opportunity to exploit a tragedy for another two minutes of fame, promptly did everything he could to make the case and the jury's verdict about race. Crump is a reflection of what Elie Mystal might have become, had he only been able to come to grips with that "licensing" thing.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/former-officer-convicted-of-murder-in-wrong-apartment-killing-of-innocent-man/ar-AAI7yOq
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