Via – St Louis Post-Dispatch

DALLAS — Criminal court sentencings can sometimes resemble church services as criminal defendants try to sway judges with stories of their religious conversions and devotions to God.

But when judges also invoke their religious beliefs in their courtrooms, complaints and controversy usually follow.

Such is the case with State District Judge Tammy Kemp, who presided over the murder trial of Amber Guyger and handed her a Bible on Wednesday after the emotional sentencing hearing. Moments before, the victim’s brother forgave Guyger with an embrace and suggestion that she turn to God.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation, which advocates for a strict separation of church and state, wasted no time in filing an ethics complaint against Kemp for “proselytizing” from the bench.

Guyger, a former Dallas police officer, was sentenced to 10 years in prison by the same jury that convicted her of murder for shooting her neighbor, Botham Jean, in an apartment she mistook for her own.

The Wisconsin-based group, known as FFRF, accused Kemp of abusing her power by giving Guyger her Bible and urging her to study it and find God. In its complaint to the Texas State Commission on Judicial Conduct, filed Thursday, the nonprofit organization said Kemp possibly violated judicial canons by imposing on Guyger her personal religious views….

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