Former Dallas police officer Amber Guyger has been granted parole after serving seven years of a 10-year sentence for the murder of Botham Jean, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles has confirmed.
The decision was approved on Thursday, 1 October 2026 — seven years after Guyger was convicted of killing Mr Jean in his own apartment.
The board said Guyger had no documented pattern of violent or assault-related arrests or convictions, had maintained a satisfactory record in prison and had completed elements of her treatment plan intended to improve her prospects of securing stable employment.
A date for her release has not been announced. The Texas prison system will determine when she leaves custody and she will be required to comply with the conditions of her parole.
Botham Jean family ‘deeply disappointed’
Lee Merritt, a lawyer representing Mr Jean’s family, said they were “deeply disappointed” by the ruling and had repeatedly called for Guyger to serve the full sentence.
“A 10-year sentence was already a fraction of what was lost. Releasing Ms Guyger after seven years makes that loss feel even smaller in the eyes of the system. It is not,” he said.
The Dallas Police Department said its thoughts remained with the Jean family and those affected by his death, while stressing that parole decisions were outside the department’s authority and that it had played no role in the decision.
Guyger’s first application for parole was rejected in 2024, after she had served five years of her sentence. She was eligible to apply again this year.
The shooting of Botham Jean
Guyger was off duty but still wearing her police uniform when she returned from a lengthy shift on 6 September 2018. She mistakenly went to the fourth floor of the apartment building where she lived, rather than the third, and entered Mr Jean’s flat.
She told investigators that she believed she was entering her own home and that Mr Jean was an intruder. She fired her service weapon, striking him. Mr Jean, a 26-year-old accountant from St Lucia, later died in hospital.
Guyger was arrested three days later and dismissed by the Dallas Police Department on 24 September 2018. A jury convicted her of murder in October 2019, rejecting a lesser manslaughter charge, and she was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Her lawyers had argued that she made a genuine mistake and acted in self-defence under Texas’s so-called Castle Doctrine. Prosecutors argued that her mistake was unreasonable and resulted from extreme carelessness.
The conviction was upheld on appeal. In a separate civil case, a jury ordered Guyger to pay Mr Jean’s family nearly 100 million dollars in damages in 2024.
In March 2026, the family also filed a civil lawsuit against the City of Dallas, alleging that staffing shortages and excessive overtime had contributed to the fatigue and stress surrounding the night of the shooting. The city has denied responsibility.
Mr Jean’s family and supporters had previously campaigned against Guyger’s release, with more than 6,000 people signing a petition opposing parole during her first application.
