Amber Guyger, the former Dallas police officer who fatally shot her neighbor Botham Jean, has been released on parole after serving seven years of a ten-year sentence.
The case ignited one of several national conversations about law enforcement and systemic racism, as Guyger was a white officer who fatally shot a black man.
From NBC News:
Amber Guyger, the former Dallas police officer who fatally shot a Black neighbor after mistakenly entering his apartment in 2018, was released from a Texas prison on parole Friday.
Guyger, 38, served seven years of the 10-year sentence handed down in October 2019 for the murder of Botham Jean 26.
She left the Christina Melton Crain Unit in Gatesville on Friday. She will spend the rest of her sentence in the community, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice said.
Robert L. Rogers, one of Guyger’s attorneys during the trial, could not be reached for comment this week. He told WFAA-TV of Dallas this month that she has a place to live and work upon her release.
“She’s been remorseful. She’s stayed remorseful. She’s still remorseful,” Rogers told the station.
Jean, an accountant at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Dallas, was watching television and eating ice cream in his living room the night of Sept. 6, 2018, when Guyger entered, prosecutors said.
Jean, 26, lived one floor above Guyger, who testified that she parked on the wrong floor and mistakenly entered his apartment instead of her own. Guyger said that she tried to use her key but that the door pushed open. She said she shot Jean, who she believed was a burglar, out of fear for her life.
Amber Guyger being granted parole after serving seven years of a 10-year sentence is a painful reminder of how easily the system moves on from the loss of Black life. Botham Jean was murdered in his own home while doing absolutely nothing wrong. His family will continue carrying a loss that no sentence can repair. Dallas has seen officers convicted for the murders of Jordan Edwards, Botham Jean, and Atatiana Jefferson. Those convictions mattered because they affirmed a simple truth: law enforcement must be held to a higher standard when a life is in their hands. But accountability cannot stop at a conviction. Botham, Atatiana, and Jordan should still be here. Their lives mattered, and they deserved more. 🎥: @dallasweekly
— Lee Merritt (@LeeMerrittesq) October 2, 2026
Guyger’s release came about two weeks after the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles granted parole earlier this month. She’d been denied parole in September 2024.
Botham Jean was murdered in his own apartment while eating ice cream. Amber Guyger was convicted of murder, sentenced to 10 years, and has now been granted parole after serving seven. Our firm represented Botham’s family from the beginning, through the investigation, trial, conviction, and sentencing. The Jean family opposed this parole decision and asked that Guyger serve the full sentence. Releasing the woman convicted of murdering Botham after seven years adds to the pain his family has carried since the day he was taken from them. Botham Jean’s life was worth more than the 10-year sentence Amber Guyger received. Granting her parole after only seven years, rather than requiring her to serve the full sentence, denies Botham and his family the full measure of justice they deserve.
— Lee Merritt (@LeeMerrittesq) October 1, 2026
The board approved her parole because Guyger “maintained satisfactory institutional adjustment” and participated in several programs while incarcerated.
The Dallas Police Department released a statement saying it “understands this decision may bring renewed attention and emotion surrounding the tragic death of Botham Jean.”