Amber Guyger Parole Reopens Wound for Botham Jean's Family

The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles approved Amber Guyger parole on Oct. 1, clearing the former Dallas police officer for release after seven years behind bars for the murder of Botham Jean. Guyger shot Jean, who was unarmed, inside his own apartment after she walked into the wrong unit on the wrong floor and believed he was an intruder. The board's decision does not set a release date; the Texas Department of Criminal Justice will schedule her departure from the Patrick L. O'Daniel Unit, the women's prison in Gatesville where she has been held, according to USA Today.

The shooting happened on Sept. 6, 2018. Guyger, coming off a patrol shift that lasted more than thirteen hours, entered the fourth-floor apartment directly above her own in the South Side Flats complex. Jean, a 26-year-old accountant who had moved to Dallas from St. Lucia, was sitting in his living room eating ice cream that evening. Guyger fired two shots into his chest with her service weapon, then called 911. Prosecutors said she did not render aid to Jean while waiting for help to arrive. Jean died at a nearby hospital.

A Dallas County jury convicted Guyger of murder on Oct. 1, 2019, rejecting both her claim of self-defense and the lesser charge of manslaughter. She became the first Dallas police officer convicted of murder since 1973, a milestone noted in coverage of the trial. The jury handed her a ten-year sentence after prosecutors asked for at least twenty-eight. Her appeals failed. A separate federal civil trial later ordered Guyger to pay Jean's family nearly one hundred million dollars after finding she used excessive force, according to USA Today.

What the parole board said

In its statement on the Amber Guyger parole, the board told the New York Times it conducted a thorough review of her record and found she had maintained a satisfactory institutional adjustment, according to reporting by the Christian Post. It also said she completed a treatment plan meant to help her secure full-time work after release. The board described its review as covering a wide range of records and recommendations. It did not say when she will walk out, and prison officials have not scheduled a date.

Why the family says the decision hurts

Jean's family opposed the Amber Guyger parole. Civil rights attorney Lee Merritt, who represented the family during the murder trial, said in a statement that the family still lives with the loss every day. "Botham does not get to come home. His family does not get the years they should have had with him. No parole decision can return what was taken from them," Merritt said. He added that when a life is taken without cause, accountability has to mean something for everyone, and that the decision tells grieving families it can be cut short.

Attorneys Ben Crump and Antonio Romanucci, who represented the family in the federal civil rights suit, said they were deeply disappointed by the ruling. In a statement carried by Black Star News, the lawyers said the Amber Guyger parole reopens a wound the family has carried since the shooting and sends a troubling message about accountability when a law enforcement officer takes an innocent life. "Botham deserved the opportunity to live a full life, and that opportunity was taken from him by a police officer who was sworn to protect the public," the statement said. They said they would keep honoring Jean's legacy by demanding a justice system that values Black lives and holds officers fully accountable for their actions.

The Amber Guyger parole comes more than eight years after the shooting, in a case that drew nationwide attention and protest as Americans were already scrutinizing police shootings of Black people. Guyger, who is White, was fired from the Dallas Police Department after the killing. The board's decision is final for now, and the family now waits for the release date that state prison officials will set.

Sources: USA Today, Christian Post, Black Star News