A major update in the case of a white female Dallas police officer who killed an unarmed black man who was eating ice cream in his apartment has outraged the victim’s family.
Amber Guyger, now 35, was still in uniform when she returned to her apartment complex on September 6, 2018 and mistook Botham Jean’s apartment for her own — which was on the floor directly below his.
She testified at her trial the following year that she found the door ajar and shot 27-year-old Jean after mistaking him for an intruder.
Guyger was found guilty of murder in 2019 and sentenced to 10 years behind bars.
But on Sunday — on what would have been Jean’s 33rd birthday — Guyger became eligible for parole after serving just five years in prison, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice says. confirmed to CBS News.
Amber Guyger, now 35, is eligible for parole after serving five years behind bars for the murder of 27-year-old Botham Jean
“His birthdays are always difficult, but today is extremely difficult,” said Jean’s sister, Allisa Charles-Findley told NBC DFWas she and her family fight to keep Guyger behind bars.
“She’s only been around for five years, and we have a whole life without Botham.”
“She caused my family tremendous pain, tremendous pain,” her mother, Allison Jean, added. ‘She should stay where she is.
“She must serve a full 10-year term here, which is well less than the sentence someone gets for murder, murdering an innocent man in the comfort of his home, doing nothing wrong.”
The family is expected to be interviewed by the Texas Parole Board in the coming days as it considers releasing Guyger.
Other family members are also writing letters to the parole board urging the board to deny Guyger parole. started an online petition.
Jean was eating ice cream on his couch when Guyger shot and killed him on September 6, 2018
His mother, Allison Jean, is now trying to prevent Guyger from being released on parole
“Amber Guyger was convicted of murder and sentenced to 10 years in prison,” it said. “This sentence was intended as 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.”
Even the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office has said it has sent a letter protesting her parole application, NBC DFW reports.
Guyger was still wearing her police uniform and had just returned from work when she shot Jean. She was fired from the Dallas Police Department in the aftermath
Jean’s death had sparked mass protests in the Texas city as residents remained outraged that the accountant had just eaten a bowl of ice cream on his couch when he was fatally shot.
Guyger was fired from the Dallas Police Department in the aftermath, and during her weeks-long trial in September 2019, she testified that she was “terrified” when she encountered Jean in what she said was her own apartment.
After being found guilty of murder, Jean’s brother, Brandt, stunned the courtroom by hugging his brother’s killer during an emotional sentencing hearing and telling her that Jean would have wanted her to turn her life over to Christ.
He said that if she asked God for forgiveness, she would receive it.
Judge Tammy Kemp also hugged the defendant and gave the ex-cop her own personal Bible to take to jail.
Kemp later said in an interview that she could not deny Guyger a hug and argued that her act of compassion was appropriate because the trial was over by then.
But during her time behind bars, Guyger has repeatedly tried to appeal her conviction.
The appeal hinged on the claim that it was reasonable for her to mistake Jean’s apartment for her own, and therefore the shooting was as well.
Her lawyer asked the appeals court to acquit her of murder or replace her with a conviction for negligent homicide, which carries a lesser sentence.
Dallas County prosecutors countered 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, and they pointed 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.
“She filed four appeals, which really showed that she didn’t accept responsibility for what she did,” said Allison Jean, the victim’s mother. told the Dallas Morning News.
“And that doesn’t soften my own feelings about” her early release.
Guyger had claimed in court that she mistook Jean’s apartment for her own
Guyger will now appear before the Texas Parole Board to argue her case for parole.
Members of the board will then ask her “how she’s changed and what she thinks about all these things,” former probation officer Zerita Hall explained, noting there’s a chance Guyger won’t appear at the hearing in person.
The letter sent by Botham’s family will then be processed.
‘This man was murdered. He was murdered in his own home,” Hall said.
“So I imagine the messages of support for her stay in prison would probably pour in.”
A decision on her parole could be made as early as this month.