DALLAS — Amber Guyger, the former Dallas police officer convicted of 26-year-old Botham Jean's murder, is eligible for parole on what would have been his 33rd birthday.
Jean was was shot and killed in his own apartment on Sept. 6, 2018 in a case that ignited a national controversy.
Guyger was sentenced to 10 years in prison during her 2019 trial, but is eligible for parole as of Sunday, according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
Guyger appealed her conviction multiple times. Those appeals were denied by Court of Criminal Appeals in 2022.
Her full 10-year sentence would have a projected release date of Sept. 29, 2029, records show.
What happened the night Botham Jean was killed?
During the trial, Guyger said she had just ended a 13-hour shift when she said she mistook Botham Jean's apartment as her own.
She told investigators that she parked on the fourth floor instead of the third at the South Side Flats apartments, arrest records show. But prosecutors said the fourth floor of the garage is open-air, while the third floor, where Guyger normally parked, is not.
Prosecutor Jason Hermus said Guyger, who was still in uniform, also missed several visual clues during her walk down two long hallways.
She also failed to notice Jean’s red doormat, the only one with such a noticeable doormat on the third or fourth floor, and the smell of marijuana in his home — all indicators she had gone to the wrong door.
During the trial, it was revealed that Jean's apartment was more cluttered than Guyger's, which was sparsely furnished. Guyger's apartment had a half-circle entry table with a vase of flowers in the living room of her apartment.
She did not have a rug nor a coffee table. Jean had a large round ottoman in front of his couch. Guyger did not have any artwork behind her couch, unlike Jean.
The door was unlocked and Jean was on the couch eating vanilla ice cream and watching TV when Guyger walked in. She shot twice, striking Jean once in the lower chest. The bullet ripped downward through his body, Hermus said.
Prosecutors said Guyger was more concerned with texting her partner than with trying to help Jean. After the shooting, she texted her partner twice saying she needed him.
“She should’ve been giving 100% of her attention to that man,” Hermus said of Jean, who was lying on his living room floor while Guyger waited outside for first responders.
Guyger's keys were in Jean's door when the first officers arrived. The doors at the apartments have an electronic lock, which turns like a normal key.
Jean hadn't locked his door when he returned home from running an errand. Crime scene photos show the strike plate, which is where the door latches closed, was slightly warped.
The door wasn't fully closed and latched the night of the shooting. Typically, the doors at the South Side Flats should fully close automatically, because of the way they are weighted.
Texas Ranger David Armstrong, the lead investigator on the case, testified he tested Jean's door several times. It didn't consistently slam shut each time, he said.
Guyger testified she was so disoriented that she had to walk outside of the unit to get the apartment number for the 911 dispatcher.
Jurors had to determine whether Guyger reasonably thought she was inside her own apartment at the time of the shooting and whether a reasonable person in her position would have shot Jean in self-defense, as she alleges.
The jury found her guilty of murder.
Remembering Botham Jean 6 years later
WFAA spoke with Jean's sister, Allisa Charles-Findley, earlier this month.
What's next for Amber Guyger?
Guyger’s case is up for review by the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles. It’s unclear when the board will hand down its ruling.
Allie Jean, Botham's mother, posted to Facebook on Sunday asking the public to write petition letters and send them to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles.
"The audacity of Amber Guyger," Allie Jean said in her post. "After taking away my son, Botham on September 6, 2018, was convicted of murder on September 30, 2019, and sentenced to only 10 years in prison, she becomes eligible for parole today on Bo's 33rd birthday. She made 4 appeals of the conviction but was denied on every occasion. What do you want the Parole Board to do? Send in your letters right now."
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