Former Dallas police officer Amber Guyger was granted parole after serving seven years of her 10 year sentence. Guyger was convicted of the murder of Botham Jean after she walked into his apartment, mistaking it for her own.
In a statement, civil rights attorney Lee Merritt said this:
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.
— David Taffet