DALLAS — Texas’ highest criminal court upheld the murder conviction and 10-year prison sentence of Amber Guyger, the former Dallas police officer who fatally shot Botham Jean in his apartment in 2018 after she said she mistook him for an intruder.
The Court of Criminal Appeals refused Wednesday to hear Guyger’s petition to review a lower court’s decision to uphold her 2019 conviction and sentence. Two justices — Judge Kevin Yeary and Judge Michelle Slaughter — filed a dissent.
During her appeal, Guyger argued that her mistaken belief that she was in her own apartment negated her culpability for murder.
Jean was sitting at home and eating ice cream in his Lamar Street apartment on Sept. 6, 2018, when Guyger, who lived on the floor above him, walked into his apartment, thinking it was her own. Guyger, who was off duty but in uniform, said she believed Jean was an intruder and shot him.
Guyger was fired from the Dallas Police Department a few weeks after the killing. She was originally arrested on a manslaughter charge, but a grand jury later indicted her on a murder charge.
Jean was a native of St. Lucia and had dreams of returning there one day to run for prime minister.
Because the nine-member court has the final appellate jurisdiction in criminal cases, the decision means Guyger has likely exhausted all avenues to appeal her conviction and sentence.
Michael Mowla, Guyger’s appellate lawyer, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Toby Shook, who represented Guyger during her murder trial, declined to comment.
Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In a statement in response to the original appeal, Creuzot’s office was terse: “When, intending to kill, you shoot an unarmed man in the chest while he’s sitting on his couch eating ice cream, that’s murder regardless of where you think you are when you do it.”
Jean’s mother, Allison Jean, declined to comment Wednesday.
Guyger, now 33, is serving her sentence at the Mountain View Unit in Coryell County. She will be eligible for parole in 2024.
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