By Kanishka Singh
WASHINGTON, Oct 1 (Reuters) – Former Dallas police officer Amber Guyger was granted parole on Thursday after serving seven years of a 10-year prison sentence for the 2018 shooting death of a Black man while he was eating ice cream in his apartment, according to the Texas Board of Pardons and Parole.
Guyger, who is white, was sentenced in 2019. A Texas jury found her guilty of murder for shooting her neighbor, Botham Jean, after she mistakenly walked into his apartment thinking it was her own.
The incident sparked street protests over his killing and over the issue of police brutality in the US against individuals of color, particularly Black people.
The Texas Board of Pardons and Parole, which is appointed by Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, said Guyger’s record did not include a documented pattern of violent or assaultive arrests or convictions, and indicated that she “maintained a satisfactory institutional adjustment.”
Lee Merritt, an attorney for Jean’s family, said the family “strongly opposed” the parole.
“Justice cannot be selective. When a life is taken without cause, accountability has to mean something, for everyone. Today’s decision tells grieving families it can be cut short,” Merritt said in a statement.
The sentence for Guyger was less than the 28 years prosecutors had initially sought.
Jean was eating ice cream in his living room when Guyger entered his apartment. Prosecutors argued that she did not do enough to help Jean because after shooting him and then realizing her mistake, she did not administer first aid, although she did call 911 for an ambulance.
Prosecutors also showed the jury text messages that painted Guyger as racist.
Guyger, who spent four years as a Dallas police officer before the killing, took the rare step of testifying in her own defense during her trial, expressing regret for shooting Jean but saying she believed her life was in danger when she pulled the trigger.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by David Gregorio)
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