A Texas parole board has granted Amber Guyger, the former Dallas police officer convicted of murdering Botham Jean in 2018, parole after she served seven years of her 10-year sentence.
The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles approved Guyger’s release on Thursday, according to a statement from the board. The decision follows Guyger’s initial parole denial in 2024, which was later reconsidered and approved.
Botham Jean, a 26-year-old accountant from St. Lucia, was fatally shot by Guyger on September 6, 2018, after Guyger entered his apartment, claiming she mistook it for her own. Guyger stated she believed Jean was an intruder and shot him while he was eating ice cream in his living room. Jean was unarmed at the time of the shooting.
Guyger was convicted of murder in October 2019 and sentenced to 10 years in prison. Prosecutors had requested a minimum 28-year sentence. The parole board cited several factors in its decision, including Guyger’s lack of a documented pattern of violent arrests, her satisfactory institutional adjustment during incarceration, and her completion of programs aimed at improving employment prospects.
The board did not specify an exact release date, and the Texas Department of Criminal Justice has not yet provided an official release timeline.
Family Response and Legal Reactions
Botham Jean’s family released a statement expressing grief and requesting privacy following the parole decision. The statement read: “Two days ago, the family of Botham Jean lovingly remembered their son and brother and celebrated his life on what would have been his birthday. Today, it was reported that Amber Guyger will be paroled and will serve the remainder of her sentence under supervision.”
Civil rights attorney Lee Merritt, who represented Jean’s family during the trial, criticized the parole decision. Merritt stated in a public response that “Botham’s family and the community strongly opposed this parole. They stood up again and again to ask that the full sentence be served....Releasing Ms. Guyger after seven years makes that loss feel even smaller in the eyes of the system. It is not smaller.”
Background and Context
The shooting occurred in an apartment building where both Guyger and Jean lived. Guyger claimed she parked on the wrong floor of the parking garage and entered Jean’s unit by mistake. The case drew national attention due to the circumstances of the shooting and its place among high-profile incidents involving police violence against unarmed Black individuals.
During the trial, prosecutors presented evidence of racist text messages sent by Guyger, unrelated to the shooting. One message referenced the Martin Luther King Jr. parade, with Guyger replying to a colleague: “When does this end lol... When MLK is dead … oh wait …”. Another exchange involved Guyger joking about racial bias in a dog, stating: “It’s okay ... I’m the same.”
Guyger’s defense team argued that her actions were the result of a tragic mistake rather than malice. The prosecution, however, maintained that the shooting was the culmination of a series of errors and reckless behavior by Guyger, including her failure to verify the identity of the person she encountered before discharging her firearm.
Following her conviction, Guyger served her sentence at the Patrick L. O'Daniel Unit in Gatesville, Texas, approximately 40 miles outside of Waco. Her parole will require her to serve the remainder of her sentence under supervision, though specific conditions have not been detailed publicly.