Amber Guyger, Former Dallas Officer Convicted in Botham Jean Murder, Released on Parole
Amber Guyger, the ex-Dallas police officer convicted of murdering Botham Jean in 2018, has been released from a Texas prison after serving seven years.
POLICY WIRE — Dallas, United States — Amber Guyger, the former Dallas police officer who tragically shot and killed an unarmed man inside his own apartment in 2018, was released from a Texas prison on parole on Friday.
Now 38 years old, Guyger served seven years of the 10-year prison sentence she received in October 2019 following her conviction for the murder of Botham Jean.
She departed the Christina Melton Crain Unit located in Gatesville on Friday, with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice confirming she will serve the remainder of her sentence living and working in the community.
Robert L. Rogers, who served as one of Guyger’s trial defense attorneys, was unavailable for comment during the week, though he previously shared with Dallas media outlet WFAA-TV that his client secured housing and employment arrangements ahead of her release.
Rogers noted to the station that Guyger has maintained genuine remorse throughout the ordeal.
Prosecutors detailed during legal proceedings that the 26-year-old Jean was relaxing in his living room, watching television and eating ice cream on the evening of Sept. 6, 2018, when Guyger unlocked and entered his residence.
Jean resided one floor directly above Guyger, who testified during the trial that she accidentally parked on the incorrect level and walked into his apartment under the mistaken belief it was her own home.
Guyger stated that she attempted to use her key, found the door push open, and fired her weapon at Jean because she feared for her life, believing an intruder was inside.
At the time of the fatal incident, Guyger was a four-year veteran of the Dallas Police Department; she was off duty though still dressed in her uniform, and she was subsequently fired from the force.
The high-profile shooting ignited widespread public protests and sparked intense national conversations regarding racial bias in law enforcement and the deployment of excessive force, given that Guyger is white and Jean was Black.
During her trial, Guyger offered a tearful apology and was famously embraced by Jean’s younger brother, Brandt Jean, who publicly stated he forgave her.
Her release comes roughly two weeks after the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles approved her bid on Oct. 1, following a previous parole denial in September 2024.
The parole board stated that the decision to approve her release was based on her maintenance of a satisfactory institutional adjustment and participation in vocational programs designed to support stable, full-time employment, alongside the absence of any documented history of violent or assaultive arrests and convictions.
The Dallas County District Attorney’s Office, which formally opposed Guyger’s release bid in 2024, declined to issue a statement regarding her parole approval.
Lee Merritt, an attorney representing the Jean family, expressed deep disappointment in an Oct. 1 statement, emphasizing that the original sentence was already an inadequate measure of the life that was lost.
Merritt stated that granting Guyger her freedom after serving just seven years diminishes the gravity of that loss in the perspective of the justice system.
Following the public disclosure of Guyger’s impending release, the Jean family released a statement through the Botham Jean Foundation asking the public to respect their privacy.
Originally hailing from the Caribbean nation of St. Lucia, Jean worked as an accountant for PricewaterhouseCoopers in Dallas, and in 2021, the street containing the apartment building and the Dallas police headquarters was officially renamed Botham Jean Boulevard.
Reporting by Policy-Wire (PW)
