A former Dallas police officer who was serving a 10-year prison sentence for fatally shooting a man inside his apartment in 2018 was granted parole after seven years, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles said on Thursday.
A parole panel approved parole for Amber Guyger, 38, who was convicted of murder on Oct. 1, 2019, in the death of Botham Jean.
Ms. Guyger, a white woman, was returning home from her shift as a Dallas police officer on Sept. 6, 2018, and entered Mr. Jean’s apartment, which she said she had mistaken for her own. When she entered the apartment, which was one floor above hers, Mr. Jean, 26, was unarmed and watching TV. Ms. Guyger used her service weapon to fire twice at Mr. Jean, a Black man. He later died at a hospital.
The shooting drew national attention and inflamed racial tensions. It also prompted protest from people who believed that Ms. Guyger’s 10-year sentence was not enough. Ms. Guyger could have faced up to 99 years in prison.
The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles said that the panel conducted “a thorough review and consideration of a plethora of information.”
In explaining its decision to grant Ms. Guyger parole, the board said she had “maintained a satisfactory institutional adjustment.”
The board also said Ms. Guyger had completed a treatment plan that “should enhance chances to obtain and maintain” a full-time job.
Lee Merritt, a lawyer who had represented the Jean family during the murder trial, said in a statement that he was disappointed by the board’s decision.
“A 10-year sentence was already a fraction of what was lost,” Mr. Merritt said. “Releasing Ms. Guyger after seven years makes that loss feel even smaller in the eyes of the system. It is not smaller. The family still lives with this loss every day.”
Ms. Guyger became eligible for parole on Sept. 29, 2024. After a review in October 2024, her parole was denied, and another review was scheduled for this month.
It was unclear when Ms. Guyger would be released from the Patrick L. O’Daniel Unit, a women’s prison in Gatesville, Texas.
The Next Generation Action Network, a nonprofit that has provided support for the Jean family, called for the release of more information regarding the approval of Ms. Guyger’s parole. The nonprofit, which is focused on social justice and civil rights, pushes for legislative changes and has organized rallies and protests in North Texas.
Dominique Alexander, the president and chief executive of the nonprofit, said in a statement that the “decision reopens a wound that our city and Botham’s family will carry forever.”
“We fought to ensure that his life mattered in the courtroom, and we will not be silent now,” Mr. Alexander said. “America cannot keep extending mercy to those who take Black lives while asking grieving families to accept less than full accountability.”
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