True Crime
Texas granted Amber Guyger parole for the Botham Jean murder. A parole grant is not a new trial.
On Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles granted parole to Amber Guyger, 38, after she served about seven years of a 10-year murder sentence for the 2018 killing of Botham Jean, 26, in his Dallas apartment. No release date was announced.
By Crime Talk Network Staff Writer ·
A parole grant is an executive-board decision on release timing. It is not a vacatur of the murder conviction. NBC News, TMZ, and Texas Board reporting said Guyger was approved Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026, after a 2019 conviction and 10-year sentence for fatally shooting Jean after she said she mistook his apartment for her own.
On Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles granted parole to former Dallas police officer Amber Guyger, 38, NBC News and TMZ reported. Guyger was convicted in 2019 of murdering Botham Jean, 26, and sentenced to 10 years. Coverage said she had served about seven years of that term. A parole grant authorizes release under board conditions. It does not erase the conviction.
According to officials and trial reporting summarized by NBC News, Guyger said she entered Jean's apartment believing it was hers and shot him after mistaking him for an intruder. Jean was unarmed and eating ice cream in his living room, authorities said at the time. The board cited no documented pattern of violent arrests, satisfactory institutional adjustment, and completed programs expected to help employment, per its statement as reported.
Guyger first became parole-eligible in September 2024 and was denied after an October 2024 review, with the next review set around October 2026, NBC News reported. Lee Merritt, a lawyer for Jean's family, said the family was disappointed and that releasing Guyger after seven years made an already short sentence feel smaller to them. The Dallas Police Department said it had no role in the decision. No exact release date was announced in the Thursday coverage.
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