Botham Jean

Case background and investigation

On the night of September 6, 2018, Botham Shem Jean, a 26-year-old accountant at PwC, was fatally shot inside his own apartment at the South Side Flats complex in Dallas, Texas. The person who killed him was Amber Guyger, a 30-year-old off-duty Dallas Police Department officer who lived in the same building one floor below. Guyger, still in uniform after a long shift, entered Jean's apartment and shot him twice in the chest. Jean, who was unarmed and had been eating ice cream, was pronounced dead at a hospital.

Guyger told investigators she had parked on the wrong floor of the garage and believed she was entering her own apartment, mistaking Jean for an intruder. She said the door was ajar and that she fired after Jean did not comply with verbal commands. These accounts of her state of mind were her own statements; the central undisputed facts are that she entered an apartment that was not hers and shot and killed its lawful occupant.

The case drew national attention over race and policing: Jean was Black and Guyger is white. Guyger was initially arrested on September 9, 2018, on a manslaughter charge. The Dallas Police Department fired her on September 24, 2018, for violating department policies. On November 30, 2018, a Dallas County grand jury indicted her on the more serious charge of murder.

Guyger's trial took place in September and October 2019. On October 1, 2019, a jury found her guilty of murder. During the sentencing phase, the jury rejected a 'sudden passion' argument that could have lowered the punishment range, and on October 2, 2019, sentenced her to 10 years in prison. Prosecutors had asked for at least 28 years, a figure tied to the age Jean would have reached.

The sentencing produced courtroom moments that were widely covered. Jean's younger brother, 18-year-old Brandt Jean, told Guyger from the witness stand that he forgave her and did not want her to serve time, then asked the judge for permission to hug her; State District Judge Tammy Kemp allowed the embrace. Kemp later hugged Guyger herself and gave her a Bible, an act that drew both praise and criticism.

Guyger's conviction was upheld on appeal by Texas's Fifth Court of Appeals in 2021. She remains incarcerated in the Texas prison system. In October 2024 she was denied parole. In a separate civil wrongful-death case, a Dallas jury in November 2024 found her liable and awarded Jean's family approximately $98.65 million in damages. Jean's death also spurred discussion of police reform and, along with other cases, informed the 'Botham Jean Act' in Texas requiring officers to keep body cameras active during investigations.