The family of Botham Jean, the Dallas man slain by an off-duty police officer in 2018, has asked congressional candidate Jasmine Crockett to stop using their name for political gain.
“Botham’s name is not an endorsement you can parade, and his legacy is not a sound bite you can use to garner media coverage,” the family wrote in an open letter. “As a result, we have requested our family’s legal team to issue a cease-and-desist letter.”
Botham Jean’s mother, Allison Jean, told The Dallas Morning News onWednesday that she was upset that Crockett, in her view, was using the Jean family to advance her campaign to replace Democrat Eddie Bernice Johnson in Congress.
She said that Crockett’s website incorrectly stated that she represented Botham Jean’s family. Crockett has taken that statement down from her campaign website and told The News it was a mistake.
“I don’t like politicians misrepresenting my family, especially my son, who is not here to defend himself, for political mileage,” Allison Jean told The News.
In the letter to Crockett, Jean said, “For you to misrepresent yourself as one of our attorneys is absolutely disgusting.”
Crockett is a civil rights lawyer who represents District 100 in the Texas House and told The News that “… as a civil rights attorney, I’d never intentionally inflict additional distress upon any family. There was an error on our website that was remedied as quickly as it was brought to our attention.”
The open letter from the Jean family was never sent directly to Crockett. She was provided a copy by The News. Allison Jean said she has not talked to Crockett about her concerns.
Crockett has not stated publicly or in campaign materials that she’s endorsed by the Jean family.
But Allison Jean said she is also upset that in a 2020 podcast, Crockett said that Botham Jean’s father was one of her biggest fans.
“She indicated in her video that my husband is one of her huge fans,” Jean said. “But that is not true. My husband is not on social media. He doesn’t know Jasmine currently, so I don’t know how you can be a fan of somebody that he doesn’t know.”
Crockett has had conversations with Botham Jean’s father and they have posed for at least one picture together.
Allison Jean said her family hasn’t endorsed any candidate in the race to replace Johnson.
Crockett responded, “As it relates to the video, that was not recorded during any campaign and while I won’t go into the specifics of the conversation that I had with Mr. Jean, I’ll say that in no way was I attempting to campaign in that moment, but that was a genuine comment made as a result of some conversations that we’d had. I’ve continually focused on bread and butter issues in every way in this campaign and will continue to do so.”
Crockett, who finished first in the March 1 primary, is in a May 24 runoff for the 30th Congressional District seat against former congressional chief of staff Jane Hamilton.
In 2018, then-Dallas police Officer Amber Guyger fatally shot Botham Jean, a 26-year-old accountant, with her service weapon while still in uniform. She told jurors that she entered Jean’s apartment believing it was her own and believed Jean was a burglar. Guyger was convicted of murder and sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2019. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals upheld the conviction Wednesday.
Jean was a native of St. Lucia and dreamed of returning there one day to run for prime minister.
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