Amber Guyger, the former Dallas police officer convicted of murder in the 2018 shooting death of her neighbor Botham Jean, has been granted early parole. The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles approved her release on Thursday, seven years into a ten-year sentence. There is no timeline yet for when she will walk out of prison.
Guyger, 38, has been serving her time at the Patrick L. O’Daniel unit in Gatesville, a prison roughly 37 miles west of Waco. She was previously denied parole in 2024, her first time before the board. A spokesperson said the request was granted after a review found her record showed no documented pattern of violence, that she maintained a satisfactory institutional adjustment, and that she completed a treatment plan that should enhance her chances of obtaining and keeping a full-time job.
The case that put her there began on the night of Sept. 6, 2018. Guyger had just finished a shift of more than 13 hours and was still in her Dallas police uniform when she returned to the South Side Flats, an apartment building two blocks from Dallas police headquarters. She lived on the third floor, in apartment 1378. Jean, a 26-year-old accountant, lived directly above her on the fourth floor, in apartment 1478. Guyger testified at her 2019 trial that she did not notice the floor, or the red doormat outside his door. She said she put her key in the lock, found the door ajar, saw a man inside and fired twice, believing he was a burglar in her own home. It was her service weapon that killed him. She called 911. Jean was taken to a nearby hospital, where he died.
Guyger was arrested three days later, placed on paid administrative leave, and fired from the department 18 days after the shooting. She was initially jailed on a manslaughter charge, but a grand jury indicted her for murder. On Oct. 1, 2019, a Dallas County jury rejected the lesser charge and convicted her of murder after about six hours of deliberations. She was the first Dallas police officer convicted of murder since 1973. Prosecutors, who described Jean as a devout Catholic with a deep interest in social justice, had asked the jury to sentence her to no less than 28 years. He would have turned 28 around the time of the trial. She got 10. Appeals to overturn the conviction were later denied.
When Guyger first became eligible for parole on Sept. 29, 2024, what would have been Jean’s 33rd birthday, the family, the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office and more than 6,300 people who signed an online petition protested her early release. The board turned her down. The family opposed this request too.
Lee Merritt, a civil rights attorney who represented Jean’s family, said he was deeply disappointed. “Botham Jean was in his own home, eating ice cream, when his life was taken,” he wrote. “He did nothing wrong. He was a son, a brother, a friend, and a man of faith who served his church and his community.” Merritt added that a ten-year sentence was already a fraction of what was lost, and that releasing Guyger after seven years makes that loss feel even smaller in the eyes of the system. “It is not,” he said. “Justice cannot be selective. When a life is taken without cause, accountability has to mean something, for everyone.”
Later in 2024, a federal civil jury of six men and six women found Guyger liable for Jean’s death and ordered her to pay $98.65 million in damages to his family, who had sought compensatory and punitive damages. In a rare move, Guyger chose not to appear in person or have legal representation during the three-day trial. Her criminal defense attorney, Toby Shook, told NBC 5 she did not have the money to hire counsel. The city of Dallas had been named in the initial lawsuit but was later removed from it.
The Dallas Police Department released a statement Thursday saying it understood the decision may bring renewed attention and emotion surrounding Jean’s death, and that its thoughts remain with the Jean family and all those impacted by his loss. Parole decisions, the department noted, are made by the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles and fall outside its authority. It had no role in the decision.
Jean graduated at the top of his class in Castries, St. Lucia, and came to the United States to attend Harding University in Arkansas. He worked as an accountant at a leading professional services firm and served as a worship leader at the Dallas West Church of Christ. His family has said he hoped one day to return to Saint Lucia and run for prime minister. Botham Jean Boulevard, the street running along the Dallas Police Department headquarters, was renamed from Lamar Street and dedicated to him.
