Judge Tammy Kemp sat down with media outlets to explain why she hugged convicted ex-cop Amber Guyger, and gave her a Bible after her murder trial ended.
The embattled judge didn’t just give Guyger any Bible, she went back to her judge’s chambers to retrieve her own personal Bible to give the departing killer.
Kemp was criticized by legal experts and the public after she appeared to show bias toward the former Dallas police officer who was convicted of killing 26-year-old accountant Botham Jean in his own apartment last year.
Kemp wiped away tears as she told CNN she thought it would be “rude” not to hug Guyger after she hugged Jean’s family members.
She said Guyger asked her, “Do you think God will forgive me?” Kemp said yes and, Guyger added, “‘Well, I don’t have a Bible. I don’t own a Bible, and I don’t know where to start.’ And I said I will get you a Bible.”
“And that’s when I went to retrieve my Bible and gave it to her.” Kemp also said, “She did tell me she’d bring my Bible back in 10 years.”
Kemp said she told Guyger, “Brandt Jean has forgiven you. Please forgive yourself, so you can have a purposeful life. And she asked me, ‘Do you think my life can still have a purpose?’ And I said, ‘I know it can.'”
Kemp said Guyger asked for a hug twice. “I’m embarrassed to say that she had to ask me twice,” Kemp told CBSDFW News.
“When I looked at her and saw how she was hurting, of course I agreed to give her a hug.”
Kemp responded to the backlash from critics who say she never shows empathy toward Black defendants in court.
“Frankly, I don’t think I would be getting this criticism if Miss Guyger were a Black woman,” Kemp said. “I hate that we limit our compassion to one race.”
