DALLAS — Amber Guyger, the former Dallas police officer who fatally shot an unarmed 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.
Jean’s loved ones were unhappy with Guyger’s early release but their greater sorrow stemmed from the 10-year sentence, family attorney Lee Merritt said Friday.
“We were opposed to her early release because we wanted her to at least do a maximum amount of time, the full 100%,” he said.
“But we realized that that was not always something that we were not guaranteed so it’s frustrating. But for the family, the frustration came at the point where she was sentenced to (just) 10 years, not just the release today.”
Robert L. Rogers, one of Guyger’s attorneys during the trial, could not be reached for comment Friday. 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 was watching television and eating ice cream in his living room the night of Sept. 6, 2018, when Guyger entered, prosecutors said.
A demonstrator holds a sign for Botham Jean in Revere, Mass., in 2020.Erin Clark / Boston Globe via Getty
Jean 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.
Guyger, a four-year Dallas police veteran, was in uniform but off duty at the time. She was fired.
The shooting sparked protests and renewed discourse about racial bias in policing and the use of excessive force. Guyger is white and Jean was Black.
Guyger apologized during the trial and was hugged by Jean’s teenage brother, Brandt Jean, who said he forgave her.
Botham Jean’s younger brother, Brandt Jean, hugs Guyger at the Frank Crowley Courts Building in Dallas in 2019. Tom Fox / The Dallas Morning News via Getty
Guyger’s release comes about two weeks after the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles granted it Oct. 1. She was previously denied parole in September 2024.
Her parole was approved because she “maintained a satisfactory institutional adjustment” and participated in programs that would enhance the chances that she can keep a full-time and stable job after her release, the Board of Pardons and Paroles said in a statement. It also cited her lack of a “documented pattern of violent or assaultive arrests/convictions.”
The Dallas County District Attorney’s Office, which opposed Guyger’s release in 2024, had no comment Thursday.
A representative for the Dallas Police Department on Friday declined comment and referred to the force’s statement made when the former officer was granted parole.
“The Dallas Police Department understands this decision may bring renewed attention and emotion surrounding the tragic death of Botham Jean,” the agency said then. “Our thoughts remain with the Jean family and all those impacted by his loss.”
Merritt, an attorney for Jean’s family, said he still believes Guyger is a threat based on the defense’s argument that her actions were justified.
“I think she’s a danger to the community in the sense that she testified in court that she was innocent based on her training as a law enforcement officer,” the attorney said.
“Someone who walks around with that mindset I do think is dangerous,” he said.
After the news of Guyger’s expected release emerged, Jean’s family asked for privacy in a statement through the Botham Jean Foundation.
Jean, originally from the Caribbean country of St. Lucia, was an accountant at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Dallas. In 2021, the street where the shooting happened, which is home to Dallas police headquarters, was renamed Botham Jean Boulevard.