Amber Guyger murder trial begins Monday
DALLAS - Media from around the world have arrived in Dallas ahead of what is expected to be a landmark trial.
Starting Monday morning, former Dallas Police Department Officer Amber Guyger goes on trial for the murder of Botham Jean.
The shooting in Jean's apartment -- just blocks from police headquarters -- grabbed headlines across the globe.
Also present for the first day in court will be Jean's family from Saint Lucia.
Jean's family asked for prayers Sunday ahead of Guyger going on trial.
MORE: Botham Jean's family holds prayer service ahead of Monday's trial
Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot met with the family last week.
He still feels their pain and their anxiety as they head into trial.
He maintains this is, appropriately, a murder case.
"I've studied what we have, and I feel comfortable that we're going forward on it, but I don't have any idea how it will end up," Creuzot said.
It's been over a year now since Guyger was caught on cell phone video pacing and on the phone calling for help after killing her upstairs neighbor at the Southside Flats in Dallas.
She told police she mistook his apartment for her own, opened the door, and saw a figure inside that she believed to be a burglar.
She said she gave him "verbal commands that were ignored," then shot him before ever entering the apartment.
People were outraged when Guyger was arrested and charged for manslaughter, and the fact that she was not fired until after Botham Jean's funeral.
A grand jury indicted her for murder in November.
Former prosecutor, now defense attorney, George Milner expects day one of trial to be especially emotional, anticipating that Allison Jean will take the stand to talk about her son, the 26-year-old accountant, church choir singer, and volunteer from St. Lucia.
"I suspect that she will be, if not the first witness, one of the lead witnesses for the state,” Milner said. “They're going to want to get the jury emotional, thinking about the loss to Botham Jean's family."
Jurors are then expected to hear from crime scene witnesses, the medical examiner, and hear competing testimony on police use of force.
Actual facts as to how his death could have happened, as Milner explained, rather than the drumbeat of innuendo.
"That's what is so hard for people to wrap their minds around. Botham Jean should not be dead," Milner said.
FOX4 will have team coverage from in and around the courthouse, from gavel to gavel
CLICK HERE for more information on this case ahead of the trial.