GATESVILLE, Texas — Amber Guyger, the former Dallas police officer who fatally shot her neighbor after mistakenly entering his apartment in 2018, was released from a Texas prison on parole Friday.
Guyger, 38, has served seven years of the 10-year prison sentence handed down in October 2019 for the murder of 26-year-old Botham Jean. She departed the Christina Melton Crain Unit in Gatesville on Friday and will serve the remainder of her sentence under community supervision, according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
The release comes roughly two weeks after the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles granted her parole on Oct. 1, following a previous denial in 2024. In justifying its decision, the board cited Guyger’s “satisfactory institutional adjustment” and her participation in programs designed to facilitate stable employment. Officials also noted her lack of a prior “documented pattern of violent or assaultive arrests.”
Robert L. Rogers, one of Guyger’s defense attorneys, stated earlier this month that his client has secured both housing and employment for her life after prison, adding that she has remained “remorseful” throughout her incarceration.
The 2018 killing of Jean, an accountant for PricewaterhouseCoopers, drew national outrage and ignited intense public discourse regarding racial bias in policing and the use of excessive force. Jean was sitting in his living room eating ice cream when Guyger, then an off-duty officer, entered his apartment one floor above her own, believing it was her residence. She testified during her trial that she mistook Jean for an intruder and opened fire in fear for her life. Guyger was subsequently fired from the Dallas Police Department.
The trial left a lasting mark on the public, particularly during the sentencing phase, when Jean’s teenage brother, Brandt Jean, famously told Guyger he forgave her before crossing the courtroom to embrace her.
However, for many, the relatively short prison term remains a point of deep contention. Lee Merritt, an attorney representing the Jean family, expressed strong dissatisfaction with the parole board’s decision shortly after it was announced.
“Releasing Ms. Guyger after seven years makes that loss feel even smaller in the eyes of the system,” Merritt said in an Oct. 1 statement. “It is not smaller.”
The Dallas Police Department declined to provide new comment on Friday, pointing back to an October statement that acknowledged the emotional toll the case continues to take on the community.
In the years following his death, Botham Jean has become a symbol of the fight against police violence. In 2021, the street hosting the Dallas police headquarters was officially renamed Botham Jean Boulevard in his honor. His family has requested privacy as Guyger transitions back into the community.
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