Amber Guyger Released on Parole After 7 Years
Amber Guyger was released from a Texas prison on parole Friday after serving seven years of a 10-year murder sentence for fatally shooting her neighbor Botham Jean, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice confirmed. She walked out of the Christina Melton Crain Unit in Gatesville on Friday morning and will serve the rest of her sentence under community supervision.
The release comes just over two weeks after the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles granted her parole. Her first parole review, in 2024, was denied after opposition from Jean’s family and the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office.
The 2018 Shooting
On the night of Sept. 6, 2018, Guyger, then a Dallas police officer, was off duty but still in uniform after a long shift. She said she parked on the wrong floor of the parking garage at the South Side Flats apartment complex, walked into Jean’s fourth-floor unit believing it was her own third-floor apartment, and shot him, thinking he was an intruder. Jean, 26, an accountant at PricewaterhouseCoopers, was sitting on his couch eating ice cream and watching television.
A Dallas County jury rejected that defense, convicting Guyger of murder on Oct. 1, 2019. Prosecutors had sought a sentence of at least 28 years; the jury imposed 10. The Dallas Police Department had fired her on Sept. 24, 2018. Guyger, who is white, shot Jean, who was Black, in a case that sparked national protests and renewed debate over racial bias in policing.
Parole Granted Over Family Objections
The parole board announced its decision on Oct. 1, exactly seven years after the conviction. A board spokesperson said the review found no documented pattern of violent or assaultive arrests or convictions, a satisfactory institutional adjustment, and completion of a treatment plan expected to help her obtain and keep full-time work.
Guyger’s attorney, Robert Rodgers, told CBS News Texas and WFAA-TV that she has lined up a place to live and a job. “She’s been remorseful. She’s stayed remorseful. She’s still remorseful,” he said.
Civil rights attorney Lee Merritt, who represents Jean’s family, condemned the release in a statement Friday, saying Guyger deserved an enhanced sentence rather than a reduced one.
Strict Supervision Until 2029
Because she is being released early, Guyger will remain under strict parole supervision until her sentence expires in 2029, officials told CBS News Texas. The conditions include regular check-ins, travel restrictions, home visits, and employment requirements. She is not allowed to live in Dallas County, contact Jean’s family or Dallas police officers, or leave Texas without approval.
Source: NBC News / People