Amber Guyger, ex-officer convicted in death of worship leader Botham Jean, gets parole

By Leonardo Blair, Senior Reporter Friday, October 02, 2026

Amber Guyger, the former Dallas police officer who was found guilty of murdering beloved worship leader Botham Jean in his apartment in 2018 and sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2019, was granted parole Thursday after serving seven years of her sentence.

The parole decision comes after a jury ordered Guyger to pay Jean's family nearly $100 million in a 2024 federal civil trial, and after the family separately filed a lawsuit against the city of Dallas in March seeking nearly $100 million in damages.

The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles told The New York Times in a statement that the panel had conducted “a thorough review and consideration of a plethora of information” and found she had “maintained a satisfactory institutional adjustment.”

It was unclear when Guyger, 38, will be released from the Patrick L. O’Daniel Unit, a women’s prison in Gatesville, Texas, but the board said she had completed a treatment plan that “should enhance chances to obtain and maintain” a full-time job.

Civil rights attorney Lee Merritt, who represented Jean’s family, said in a statement Thursday that Jean’s family opposed Guyger’s parole and are “deeply disappointed” with the decision to release her early:

We are deeply disappointed by the decision to grant parole to Amber Guyger, the former Dallas police officer convicted of murdering Botham Jean. Botham Jean was in his own home, eating ice cream, when his life was taken. He did nothing wrong. He was a son, a brother, a friend, and a man of faith who served his church and his community.

He should still be here. 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 smaller.

The family still lives with this 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. Justice cannot be selective. When a life is taken without cause, accountability has to mean something, for everyone. Today's decision tells grieving families that it can be cut short. We stand with the Jean family. We will keep saying Botham’s name, and we will keep working for a justice system that values every life it is asked to protect.

The Next Generation Action Network, Texas’ largest human and civil rights organization that supported the Jean family, called for more transparency on Guyger’s parole approval in a statement.

“The Next Generation Action Network (NGAN), North Texas’ largest human and civil rights organization, expresses profound outrage at today’s announcement that former Dallas Police Officer Amber Guyger has been granted parole,” the organization began in its statement Thursday. “Guyger was convicted of murdering Botham Jean, a young black man whose life she took inside his own home. Today’s announcement comes exactly seven years after her murder conviction. NGAN’s prayers and deepest condolences remain with the Jean family as they confront another painful moment in their pursuit of justice.”

Minister Dominique Alexander, founder, president and CEO of the Next Generation Action Network, argued that Guyger’s parole is a reflection of the justice system's inequality.

“We are outraged because this decision reflects the two systems of justice that black communities know all too well: one that extends mercy to those who take our lives, and another that too often denies our people protection, dignity, and accountability. Texas has repeatedly failed to protect black lives, and today’s decision deepens that failure,” Alexander argued.

This was the second time Guyger had applied for parole. The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles officially rejected her first request for release in October 2024 after she first became eligible upon serving half of her 10-year sentence, according to Fox 4.

Alexander’s statement added that evidence presented during Guyger’s trial included racist text messages and a joke about the death of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

“Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. reminded us that ‘Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” he stated. “We cannot claim to value black life while treating accountability for taking it as something our communities should quietly move past. Botham’s family deserves more than sympathy. They deserve a justice system that recognizes the full value of his life. Our outrage will remain a call to action, and our commitment to accountability will not end with this parole decision.”