Amber Guyger, the former Dallas police officer convicted in 2018 of killing a man in his own apartment, became eligible for parole Sunday after serving half of a 10-year prison sentence.
Guyger shot Botham Jean to death on September 6, 2018, after entering his Dallas apartment.
Guyger, who is white, told authorities that she accidentally entered Jean’s apartment, thinking it was her own, and that her actions were justified under the assumption that she had to defend herself. She didn’t turn on her body camera because she was off-duty, she said.
Jean’s killing sparked outrage and protests in Dallas, drawing national attention amid ongoing controversy and conversations about police killings of black men.
She was convicted of Jean’s murder and sentenced to 10 years in prison in September 2019. An appeals court upheld that conviction in 2022.
It is unclear when the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles will decide whether to release Guyger from prison five years early. Calls to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s Parole Division were not returned Sunday.
Jean’s family reacts to the possibility of Guyger being paroled
Jean’s family is strongly opposed to Guyger’s possible release, the timing of which had added significance for his mother and sister. Sunday would have been Jean’s 33rd birthday.
His sister, Allisa Charles-Findley, told The Dallas Morning News that receiving parole for Guyger would be “very traumatic” for her and her family, and that if it happened on his birthday it would be like “Botham completely would lose again’.
Speaking to CBS News on Friday, Jean’s mother, Allison Jean, said Guyger had caused her family “tremendous pain.” She added that Guyger should remain in prison until her sentence is completed, noting that the sentence imposed on her is “well less than the sentence someone would receive for murder.”
A petition to the Pardons and Paroles board to parole Guyger on Change.org had collected nearly 400 signatures as of Sunday afternoon.
Other parole cases involving police officers
Guyger is one of only two Dallas police officers convicted of murder. Darrell L. Cain was sentenced to five years in prison for the murder of Santos Rodriguez after forcing the 12-year-old to play Russian roulette in the back of a police car in 1973. He served half of that sentence.
Former Wichita Falls police officer Teddie Lynn Whitefield served a quarter of the eight-year prison sentence he received for three manslaughter charges after killing two young women and an unborn baby in a crash in June 2011. A toxicology report showed he was under the influence of several prescription medications at the time of the crash.
The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles approved just under 35% of parole requests in 2023, according to its annual report.
