Amber Guyger granted parole seven years after murder of Saint Lucian Botham Jean

Saint Lucia: Former officer with the Dallas Police Department Amber Guyger has been released on parole after serving a prison sentence of seven years of a ten-year in connection to the 2018 murder of Botham Shem Jean, a 26-year-old man, born in Saint Lucia and an accountant by profession who was living in Dallas, Texas.

The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles permitted the release of Guyger on October 1, 2026, after serving seven years of her prison sentence.

Guyger, a woman with white ethnic background was not on official duty when she went back to her apartment complex on September 6, 2018. She accidentally reached the fourth floor instead of her own apartment on the third floor and went into Jean’s residence.

Jean was at his residence when Guyger opened fire at him using her service weapon. In her testimony Guyger told the court that she thought she went into her own residence and mistook Jean for an intruder.

Jean was born and raised in a Caribbean nation, Saint Lucia, before shifting to the United States. He pursued his studies at Harding University in Arkansas and subsequently was employed as an accountant in Dallas. The fact that he had Saint Lucian background has continued to be a significant element of the case’s importance among the Caribbean and local Saint Lucian diaspora.

The Dallas County jury convicted Guyger for the murder of Jean on October 1, 2019 and she was sentenced to a 10 year prison term the following day. The Prosecutors had requested for a longer sentence. Guyger’s conviction was later affirmed on appeal.

Guyger first became eligible for parole in 2024. The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles rejected the appeal and scheduled the next hearing for October 2026. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s official documents verifies the 2024 rejection and the scheduled October 2026 review.

In the process of parole approval this time, the board pointed to Guyger’s absence of a documented history of violent or assault-related arrests or convictions, good conduct in prison and involvement in rehabilitation and workforce-development programmes. She will compete the rest of her sentence under parole supervision.

Jean’s family and their attorney Lee Merrit objected to her parole and voiced disappointment over the decision. In a distinct 2024 federal civil lawsuit, a jury awarded an amount for Jean’s family of approximately US$100 million in compensation.