Former Dallas officer who shot Black man in apartment that she mistook for hers gets parole

Tom Fox/The Dallas Morning News/Pool/AP/File

(AP) – A white Dallas police officer convicted of killing a Black man in his apartment that she mistook for her own was granted parole Thursday after serving seven years of her 10-year sentence.

The Texas Board of Pardons and Parole, which is appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott, rejected Amber Guyger’s initial parole request in 2024, but approved her case over the objections of victim Botham Jean’s family the first time she was eligible to ask again.

Guyger, 38, was convicted of murder in the 2018 killing of 26-year-old Jean, an accountant from the Caribbean island nation of St. Lucia, who had been eating a bowl of ice cream when Guyger entered his home and shot him. Guyger was arrested three days after the shooting and was fired before her murder trial.

She had faced up to life in prison or as little as two years. Prosecutors initially asked the jury for a sentence of 28 years.

The shooting drew widespread attention because of the strange circumstances and because it was one in a string of shootings of Black men by white police officers. Guyger’s sentencing hearing also included a stunning courtroom scene when Jean’s brother and the Black judge presiding over the case embraced the sobbing Guyger.

Tony Gutierrez/AP/FILE

Nearly $100 million awarded to the family of a man fatally shot in his apartment by an officer

At trial, Guyger said that after a long shift at work and still in uniform, she walked up to Jean’s apartment — which was on the fourth floor, directly above hers on the third — and found the door unlocked. She said she thought the apartment was her own and that Jean was an intruder when she drew her service weapon and entered.

Civil rights attorney Lee Merritt said Thursday that Jean’s family “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,” Merritt said.

In 2024, a jury ordered Guyger to pay Jean’s family nearly $100 million in a federal civil trial.

In granting her release, the board said it reviewed a “plethora” of information in her case.

The board said Guyger’s record did not include a documented pattern of violent or assaultive arrests or convictions, and showed she completed programs in her prison treatment plan to get and keep a job when she is released.

The board said the state prison system will determine when she is released. Texas Department of Criminal Justice officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday.

Guyger’s legal defense team did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Dallas police said the department played no role in Guyger’s request for parole or the decision to release her.

“The Dallas Police Department understands this decision may bring renewed attention and emotion surrounding the tragic death of Botham Jean. Our thoughts remain with the Jean family and all those impacted by his loss,” the department said.

汤姆·福克斯/《达拉斯晨报》/媒体联播/美联社/档案照片

（美联社）——一名达拉斯白人女警因误将一名黑人男子当成自己的公寓而将其杀害，被判处 10 年监禁。周四，她在服刑 7 年后获得假释。

由州长格雷格·阿博特任命的德克萨斯州赦免和假释委员会在 2024 年驳回了安珀·盖格的首次假释申请，但在她第一次有资格再次提出申请时，尽管受害者博瑟姆·吉恩的家人反对，该委员会还是批准了她的案件。

38岁的盖格因2018年枪杀26岁的圣卢西亚会计师让而被判谋杀罪名成立。当时让正在吃冰淇淋，盖格闯入他的家中将其枪杀。盖格在枪击案发生三天后被捕，并在谋杀案审判前被解雇。

她面临的刑罚可能是终身监禁，也可能是仅两年监禁。检察官最初要求陪审团判处她28年监禁。

这起枪击事件之所以引起广泛关注，是因为案情离奇，而且这只是白人警察枪杀黑人的一系列案件之一。盖格的量刑听证会上，法庭上出现了令人动容的一幕：让的哥哥和审理此案的黑人法官拥抱了哭泣的盖格。

Tony Gutierrez/AP/档案照片

一名男子在公寓内被警察枪杀，其家人获赔近1亿美元。

在庭审中，盖格表示，她下班后还穿着制服，走到让的公寓——公寓在四楼，就在她三楼公寓的正上方——发现门没锁。她说，她以为那是自己的公寓，以为让是闯入者，于是拔出配枪进入。

民权律师李·梅里特周四表示，吉恩的家人“强烈反对这项假释”。

“他们一次又一次地站出来要求执行全部刑期。十年刑期已经远远不足以弥补损失。在司法系统看来，盖格女士服刑七年后获释，只会让损失显得更小。但事实并非如此，”梅里特说道。

2024 年，联邦民事审判中，陪审团裁定盖格向吉恩的家人支付近 1 亿美元的赔偿金。

委员会在批准她释放时表示，他们审查了她案件中的“大量”信息。

委员会表示，盖格的记录中没有暴力或攻击性逮捕或定罪的记录，并显示她完成了监狱治疗计划中的各项课程，以便在获释后能够找到并保住工作。

委员会表示，州监狱系统将决定她的释放时间。德克萨斯州刑事司法部官员周四未立即回应置评请求。

盖格的辩护律师团队尚未对此事作出回应。达拉斯警方表示，该部门并未参与盖格的假释申请或释放决定。

达拉斯警察局表示：“我们理解这一决定可能会再次引发人们对博瑟姆·吉恩不幸去世的关注和悲痛。我们始终与吉恩的家人以及所有受此噩耗影响的人们同在。”