Botham Jean Act

Legislation introduced by

Representative Carl Sherman, Sr.

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Botham "Bo" Jean

Several recent high-profile murder cases involving police officers have revealed multiple problems with the current state of the law related to the use of force and deadly force and police investigations.

Most notably, the Dallas Police Officer shot and killed Botham Jean in his own apartment while eating ice cream. The officer argued that she should be allowed to rely upon the “castle doctrine” and “mistake of fact” because she believed she was in her own apartment. Additionally, after police arrived on the scene, recording devices were deactivated, and the officer was afforded protection, a common Texan would be denied, and valuable information was lost.

"Even a small community

can make a

big difference"

Simone Staley

Bo's Law

In light of the current climate of distrust of law enforcement, Bo's Law seeks to resolve these issues by providing transparency and protections for citizens and law enforcement alike.

Castle Doctrine - Should only protect individuals who are actually in their own “castle” before believing that force or deadly force was immediately necessary can be presumed to be reasonable.

Mistake of fact - Make explicit that “mistake of fact” applies only to the culpable mental state for the offense and not to any other defenses or affirmative defenses.

Body-worn camera policies - Require that the camera remain activated for the entirety of any investigation in which an officer is participating.

Body-worn, vehicle, and security cameras - Any person, not just police officers, who deactivates a recording device used in an investigation and hold individuals seeking to destroy or prevent the collection of evidence accountable to their fellow officers and the community.