Cops Found Weed In Botham Jean’s Home? OK. So Fucking What?

As If There Was Ever A Doubt, It Looks Like Authorities Are Really Gonna Try The Whole “He Was No Angel!” Bit On Botham Jean, A Literal Church Choir Boy.

Today, on the very same day as his funeral, which was attended by some 1,500 people, Texas Rangers — who historically make a point not to comment on ongoing investigations — decided to make public the results of a search warrant carried out on the apartment of Botham Jean, the 26-year-old literal choir boy who was shot and killed by Dallas police officer Amber Guyger inside of his home last Thursday night.

Along with various items retrieved that were clearly left on the scene by Guyger — who was arrested on Sunday night (after a three-day wait) on charges of manslaughter — authorities also revealed that they found in Botham’s apartment “10.4 grams of marijuana in ziplock bags” and “1 metal marijuana grinder.”

The warrant did not specify to whom authorities thought the marijuana and paraphernalia belonged. It’s possible, one presumes, that these items could belong to Guyger — like that‘s the narrative cops want to get out about one of their own.

You see where this is maybe headed? Law enforcement officers — who historically get treated with kid gloves when they shoot unarmed citizens and who are already running a questionable investigation — now sure seem to be trying to paint Jean with the same “no angel” brush that has been previously used (to unfortunate success) to smear countless other victims of police brutality and white-on-black crime. The earliest news outlets to report these findings aren’t exactly getting in the way of this apparent character assault, either. Dallas TV station FOX 4 treated today’s discovery with this delicate headline: “Search warrant: Marijuana found in Botham Jean’s apartment after deadly shooting.” Even the Dallas Morning News chose to prominently include the marijuana detail near the top of its own coverage.

Let’s all remember something here real quick: We’re talking about the very same man whose death Dallas mayor Mike Rawlings last weekend called “a tragedy” while also saying Jean was “exactly the sort of citizen we want to have in the city of Dallas” and “a potential leader for his city for decades to come.”

But, beyond that, even if the news about today’s findings in his apartment happens to be true — and we have reason to believe it maybe isn’t — who the fuck cares if Jean smoked marijuana, a drug that is only becoming increasingly legal in this country, in the privacy of his own home?

It does not change the fact that a police officer entered his home and killed him. It does not alter the fact that Jean still appears to have done nothing to merit losing his life. And it certainly does not, even in the slightest, do anything to stop this case from being referred to — even by massively conservative publications! — as “the worst police shooting yet.”

Unless the marijuana establishes a relationship between the two people involved (a narrative that the Dallas Morning News has actively helped deny) or hints at some possible motive (like, say, Guyger taking issue with his smoke somehow entering her apartment underneath it) — and, in the search itself’s defense, his apartment is a crime scene — then this is nothing more than an irresponsible reveal. Should the pot not establish either of those things, its announcement stands as wholly reckless, and the reddest of herrings.

Worse, the whole scenario reads a little too on-the-nose as a should-be satirical Dave Chappelle stand-up bit come to life.

If cops are really out here trying to smear Jean’s character in the public record on the very same day when 1,500 people gathered in his memory to celebrate it, then that is an utterly shameful act. It is also an act that could’ve waited a few days: We’ve already been privy to authorities’ willingness to take their time with making progress in this case.

Oh, and Dallas’ mainstream media isn’t blameless for highlighting this information with its headlines and coverage, either. Without provocation, they have chosen to criminalize Jean by focusing so squarely on the warrant statement’s marijuana details.

It’s no wonder people don’t have much confidence in cops or even much faith at all in the media these days.

Props, at least, to the Jean family legal team for going on the offensive and calling out today’s news for what it sure reads as being for the moment: “a disgusting attempt to assassinate the character… after they assassinate his person.”