A former female Dallas police officer who wrongfully shot and killed a Black man who was eating ice cream in his apartment has been released on parole.
Amber Guyger, now 35, has served just five years behind bars for shooting and killing 27-year-old Botham Jean when she mistook his apartment for her own on September 6, 2018.
She testified at her trial the following year that she found the door ajar and shot Jean, who had just been eating ice cream on his couch, because she thought he was an intruder.
Guyger was ultimately found guilty of murder in 2019 and sentenced to 10 years in prison, but was granted parole late last month – on what would have been Jean’s 33rd birthday.
However, after Jean’s family, the Dallas County district attorney and more than 6,300 people signed an online petition protesting her release, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice denied her request. the Dallas Morning News reports.
Amber Guyger, now 35, has been denied parole and will spend time behind bars for the September 6, 2018 shooting of 27-year-old Botham Jean.
In an email from the department, its decision recognized the “criminal victimization” Jean’s family faced in the aftermath of the shooting.
‘I didn’t expect an answer so quickly’, Allisa Charles-Findley, Jean’s sister, told WFAA. “We were interviewed on Monday by the probation commissioner, the chief commissioner.
“It feels like a burden has been lifted.”
Allison Jean, Botham’s mother, also said the family “feels a sense of relief” at the news, adding that it “shows some of the responsibility she must have for her actions.”
“My family feels a sense of relief now that they have gone through the process and filed a strong motion for denial,” she said told CBS News.
“So the news that the board has considered our petition is a sense of relief.”
The grieving mother has previously said she does not feel Guyger felt remorse over the fatal shooting after her previous failed appeals, with the Texas Supreme Court upholding her conviction and the U.S. Supreme Court declining to review the case in 2022.
Allison Jean then thanked everyone who sent emails and letters to the parole board opposing Guyger’s release, saying in a statement from Jean’s family provided by attorney Allisa Charles-Findley: “This is a very important part of justice for [the family] for the senseless deaths of their brother and son while he was unarmed and minding his own business in his own home.”
Jean was eating ice cream on his couch when Guyger shot and killed him
His mother, Allison Jean (pictured at Guyger’s 2019 sentencing), said the family “feels a sense of relief” at the news
Jean’s death sparked massive protests across Dallas, and Guyger was fired from the police force in the aftermath.
For years, she repeatedly tried to appeal her conviction, claiming that it was reasonable for her to mistake Jean’s apartment for her own, and that that’s why the shooting was so.
Her lawyer tried to get the appeals court to acquit her of murder or replace her with a conviction for negligent homicide, which carries a lesser sentence.
But Dallas County prosecutors argued that the error was not reasonable, that Guyger acknowledged he intended to kill Jean and that “murder is a result-oriented offense.”
The court’s Chief Justice Robert Burns III and Justices Lana Myers and Robbie Partida-Kipness agreed with prosecutors and disagreed that Guyger’s belief that deadly force was necessary was reasonable.
In a 23-page opinion, the justices also disagreed that evidence supported a conviction of negligent homicide rather than murder, pointing to Guyger’s own testimony that she intended to kill.
“That she was mistaken as to Jean’s status as a resident of his own apartment or as an intruder in hers does not change her mental status from intentional or knowing to criminally negligent,” the judges wrote.
“We decline to rely on Guyger’s misapprehension of the circumstances that led to her mistaken beliefs as a basis for reversing the jury’s verdict in light of the direct evidence of her intent to kill.”
Guyger then asked the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals – the state’s highest forum for criminal cases – to review the appeals court’s ruling.
But the court refused to hear her case in March 2022 and upheld her sentence. according to WFAA.
Guyger has repeatedly tried to appeal her conviction, claiming that it was reasonable for her to mistake Jean’s apartment for her own, and therefore the shooting was so.
When she was released on parole in September, thousands of people signed an online petition calling on the parole board to deny her request.
“Amber Guyger was convicted of murder and sentenced to ten years in prison,” the petition said. “This sentence was intended to be a standard of justice for Botham Jean and his family, and a statement that such actions will not be tolerated.
“Granting parole at this time would undermine the seriousness of the crime and the justice sought through the legal process.
“Releasing Amber Guyger early would be a disservice not only to the memory of Botham Jean, but also to the principles of justice and responsibility,” continues the petition, which has collected nearly 1,700 signatures as of Tuesday evening.
“We believe that Amber Guyger should serve her full sentence to reflect the seriousness of her actions and to uphold the integrity of our justice system.
“We urge the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to deny her parole and ensure that justice is fully served for Botham Jean and his family.”
Guyger will now not be eligible for parole again until 2026.