Amber Guyger, the former Dallas police officer convicted of murdering her neighbor Botham Jean, has been released from a Texas prison after serving seven years of her 10-year sentence.
She left the Christina Melton Crain Unit in Gatesville on Oct. 16, 2026, after the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles approved her release earlier that month.
Guyger, 38, was convicted of murder on Oct. 1, 2019, for fatally shooting Jean, a 26-year-old Black accountant, inside his Dallas apartment on Sept. 6, 2018. The shooting happened after Guyger entered Jean’s apartment, believing it was her own home.
Her release has renewed attention to the case and brought fresh disappointment to Jean’s family, who opposed her early release. The family’s attorney, Lee Merritt, said the 10-year prison sentence was already too short for the loss they suffered.
Former Dallas police officer Amber Guyger arrives for her second court appearance at the Frank Crowley Courts Building in Dallas on Jan. 29, 2019.Photo by: Tom Fox/The Dallas Morning News via Getty Images
Guyger will remain under parole supervision until her sentence ends in 2029. Her release comes after a parole review that approved her request in October 2026, following an earlier denial in 2024.
On the night of Sept. 6, 2018, Jean was at home in his apartment, watching television and eating ice cream, when Guyger entered and shot him, according to NBC News.
Guyger testified that she had returned from a long work shift and mistakenly went to Jean’s apartment instead of her own. The two lived in the same apartment building, with Jean’s home one floor above hers.
She said she believed Jean was an intruder and feared for her life when she fired her service weapon. Jean was unarmed and later died at a hospital from his injuries.
Guyger was a Dallas police officer at the time of the shooting. The department fired her in September 2018, before her murder trial.
The case drew national attention and sparked protests over race, police conduct and the treatment of Black people by law enforcement. Many people also questioned the initial manslaughter charge before Guyger was later indicted for murder.
On Oct. 1, 2019, a jury found Guyger guilty of murder. She was sentenced to 10 years in prison the following day. Prosecutors had sought a longer sentence, and the murder conviction was upheld on appeal.
The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles approved Guyger’s release after reviewing her prison record and participation in programs designed to help her find and keep a full-time job. The board also cited her satisfactory conduct while in prison.
Guyger’s attorney, Robert Rodgers, said she continued to feel regret over Jean’s death and had prepared for life outside prison.
“She’s still very remorseful, but she’s spent that time working on programs and rehabilitating and making sure that she can be … a productive member of society,” Rodgers told CBS News Texas.
Under the conditions of her release, Guyger must follow strict rules until her sentence ends in 2029. These include regular check-ins, travel restrictions, home visits and employment requirements. She cannot live in Dallas County, contact Jean’s family or Dallas police officers or leave Texas without permission.
Jean’s family opposed the parole decision and asked for privacy as they continued to grieve. In a statement shared with CBS News Texas, the family thanked those who continued to honor Jean’s life and support his loved ones.
Merritt, who represents Jean’s family, also criticized the decision to release Guyger before she completed her sentence.
“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 Ms. Guyger after seven years makes that loss feel even smaller in the eyes of the system. It is not,” Merritt said.
Guyger’s case also had a major outcome outside the criminal trial. In November 2024, a civil jury ordered her to pay Jean’s family $98.6 million in a wrongful death lawsuit. The family argued that the shooting was linked to failures in police training, although the city of Dallas was dismissed from the case.
Jean was born in St. Lucia, a Caribbean island nation, and worked as an accountant for PricewaterhouseCoopers in Dallas.
Guyger’s release marks a new stage in the case, but the grief of Jean’s family and the debate over her sentence remain central to the story.
Related: Wyatt Earp faced murder charges over the 30-second Tombstone gunfight that killed 3 men in 1881; a 30-day hearing found he and Doc Holliday had acted lawfully
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