Amber Guyger parole was approved Thursday, seven years to the day after a jury convicted the former Dallas police officer of murdering Botham Jean in his own apartment.
The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles granted parole to Guyger, 38, who has served seven years of the 10 year sentence she received in 2019. The board has not said when she will be released. She will serve the rest of her sentence under supervision outside prison. Guyger has been held at a state prison in Gatesville. The decision comes just days after what would have been Botham Jean’s 35th birthday.
Guyger, who is white, was off duty but still in uniform on September 6, 2018, when she walked into Jean’s apartment, one floor above her own, and shot him. Jean, a 26 year old Black accountant from St. Lucia, was at home eating ice cream. Guyger testified that she thought she was walking into her own apartment and believed Jean was a burglar. The Dallas Police Department fired her shortly after the shooting.
At trial, prosecutors asked the jury for at least 28 years. Jurors gave her 10. The sentencing became one of the most talked about moments in the case when Jean’s younger brother, Brandt, told Guyger he forgave her and asked to hug her in the courtroom.
Guyger first became eligible for parole in September 2024, after serving half her sentence, and the board denied her that year. More than 6,000 people, including Jean’s family and the Dallas County District Attorney, signed a petition opposing her release at the time.
This time, the board approved it. Its stated reasons were that her record does not show a pattern of violent or assaultive arrests or convictions, that she has adjusted well in prison, and that she completed programs meant to help her find and keep full time work once she is out.
Lee Merritt, the attorney who represents Jean’s family, said they are deeply disappointed by the Amber Guyger parole decision. He said the family and the community strongly opposed it and wanted her to serve her full sentence, that 10 years was already a fraction of what was taken from them, and that no parole decision can bring Botham back. The Next Generation Action Network, a North Texas civil rights group, said it was outraged. The Dallas Police Department said it had no role in the decision, and the Dallas County District Attorney’s office declined to comment.
Jean’s family is still fighting in civil court. In November 2024, a jury in a wrongful death case ordered Guyger to pay the family $98.65 million. In March, the family sued the City of Dallas for nearly $100 million, arguing that the city is responsible for paying that judgment on Guyger’s behalf.
