Amber Guyger, the former Dallas police officer who was found guilty of murdering beloved worship leader Botham Jean in his apartment in 2018 and sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2019, was granted parole Thursday after serving seven years of her sentence.
The parole decision comes after a jury ordered Guyger to pay Jean's family nearly $100 million in a 2024 federal civil trial, and after the family separately filed a lawsuit against the city of Dallas in March seeking nearly $100 million in damages.
The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles told The New York Times in a statement that the panel had conducted “a thorough review and consideration of a plethora of information” and found she had “maintained a satisfactory institutional adjustment.” It was unclear when Guyger, 38, will be released from the Patrick L.
O’Daniel Unit, a women’s prison in Gatesville, Texas, but the board said she had completed a treatment plan that “should enhance chances to obtain and maintain” a full-time job.
Civil rights attorney Lee Merritt, who represented Jean’s family, said in a statement Thursday that Jean’s family opposed Guyger’s parole and are “deeply disappointed” with the decision to release her early: We are deeply disappointed by the decision to grant parole to Amber Guyger, the former Dallas police officer convicted of murdering Botham Jean. Botham Jean was in his own home, eating ice cream, when his life was taken.
He did nothing wrong. He was a son, a brother, a friend, and a man of faith who served his church and his community. He should still be here. Botham's family and the community strongly opposed this parole. They stood up again and again to ask that the full sentence be served. A 10-year sentence was already a fraction of what was lost. Releasing