Former Dallas officer who shot black man in apartment she mistook for hers gets parole

(AP) – A white Dallas police officer convicted of killing a black man in her apartment that she mistook for hers was paroled Thursday after serving seven years of his 10-year sentence.

The Texas Board of Pardons and Parole, appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott, denied Amber Guyger’s initial request for parole in 2024, but approved her case despite objections from victim Botham Jean’s family the first time she was eligible to apply again.

Guyger, 38, was convicted of the 2018 murder of Jean, 26, an accountant from the Caribbean island of St. Lucia, who was eating a bowl of ice cream when Guyger entered his home and shot him. Guyger was arrested three days after the shooting and fired before her murder trial.

She faced life in prison or just two years. Prosecutors initially asked the jury for a sentence of 28 years.

The shooting attracted widespread attention because of its bizarre circumstances and because it was part of a series of shootings of black men by white police officers. Guyger’s sentencing hearing also included a stunning courtroom scene when Jean’s brother and the black judge presiding over the case embraced Guyger as he sobbed.

At trial, Guyger testified that after a long shift and still in uniform, she walked to Jean’s apartment — which was on the fourth floor, directly above hers on the third — and found the door unlocked. She said she thought the apartment belonged to her and that Jean was an intruder when she pulled out her service weapon and entered.

Civil rights attorney Lee Merritt said Thursday that Jean’s family “strongly opposes this parole.”

“They stood up again and again to demand that the entire sentence be served. A 10-year sentence was already a fraction of what was lost. Ms. Guyger’s release after seven years makes that loss even smaller in the eyes of the system. It is not smaller,” Merritt said.

In 2024, a jury ordered Guyger to pay Jean’s family nearly $100 million in a federal civil lawsuit.

In granting his release, the commission said it had reviewed a “plethora” of information about his case.

The commission said Guyger’s record did not include a documented pattern of violent or aggressive arrests or convictions, and showed that she followed programs in her treatment plan in prison to obtain and maintain employment upon her release.

The commission said the state prison system would determine when she would be released. Officials with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice did not immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday.

Guyger’s legal defense team did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Dallas police said the department had no role in Guyger’s parole application or the decision to release her.

“The Dallas Police Department understands that this decision may cause renewed attention and emotion surrounding the tragic death of Botham Jean. Our hearts go out to the Jean family and all those affected by his loss,” the department said.