Amber Guyger is eligible for parole on Botham Jean's birthday

DALLAS – Editor's Note: The video posted above is a WFAA report from earlier this month in which we spoke with Botham Jean's sister. six years after her brother was shot.

Amber Guyger, the former Dallas police officer convicted of murdering 26-year-old Botham Jean, will be eligible for parole on her 33rd birthday.

Jean was shot dead in his own apartment on September 6, 2018, a case that sparked a national controversy.

Guyger was sentenced to 10 years in prison during her trial in 2019 but is eligible for parole starting Sunday, according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

Guyger appealed her conviction multiple times. These appeals were rejected by the Court of Criminal Appeal in 2022.

Her full 10-year sentence would have an expected release date of Sept. 29, 2029, records show.

During the trial, Guyger said she had just finished a 13-hour shift when she said she mistook Botham Jean's apartment for her own.

She told investigators that she parked on the fourth floor instead of the third floor of the South Side Flats apartments, according to arrest records. However, prosecutors said the fourth floor of the garage was open-air, while the third floor, where Guyger typically parked, was not.

Prosecutor Jason Hermus said Guyger, who was still in uniform, also missed several visual clues as she walked down two long hallways.

She also noticed Jean's red doormat, the only one with such a noticeable doormat on the third or fourth floor, and the smell of marijuana in his house – all signs that she had gone to the wrong door.

During the trial, it emerged that Jean's apartment was messier than Guyger's, which was sparsely furnished. Guyger's apartment had a semi-circular entry table with a flower vase in the living room of her apartment.

She didn't have a carpet or a coffee table. Jean had a large round ottoman in front of his couch. Unlike Jean, Guyger didn't have any artwork behind her couch.

The door was unlocked and Jean was sitting on the couch eating vanilla ice cream and watching TV when Guyger came in. She fired twice, hitting Jean once in the lower chest. The bullet traveled downward through his body, Hermus said.

Prosecutors said Guyger was more interested in texting her partner than trying to help Jean. After the shooting, she texted her partner twice that she needed him.

“She should have been 100% focused on this man,” Hermus said of Jean, who lay on his living room floor as Guyger waited outside for first responders.

Guyger's keys were in Jean's door when the first officers arrived. The apartment doors have an electronic lock that turns like a regular key.

Jean didn't lock his door when he got home from an errand. Photos from the crime scene show that the strike plate where the door locks closed was slightly warped.

The door was not fully closed and locked the night of the shooting. Normally the South Side Flats doors should close completely automatically due to the way they are weighted.

Texas Ranger David Armstrong, the lead investigator on the case, testified that he tested Jean's door several times. It wasn't struck every time, he said.

Guyger testified that she was so disoriented that she had to leave the unit to give the apartment number to the emergency dispatcher.

The jury had to determine whether Guyger reasonably believed she was in her own home at the time of the shooting and whether a reasonable person in her position would have shot Jean in self-defense, as she claims.

The jury found her guilty of murder.

WFAA spoke with Jean's sister, Allisa Charles-Findley, earlier this month.

You can see this story below:

Guyger's case is up for review by the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles. It's unclear when the board will do it pass on his decision.

Allie Jean, Botham's mother, posted a post on Facebook on Sunday asking the public to write petition letters and send them to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles.

“The boldness of Amber Guyger,” Allie Jean said in her post. “After taking my son Botham away on September 6, 2018, she was convicted of murder on September 30, 2019 and sentenced to just 10 years in prison. Today, on Bo's 33rd birthday, she is eligible for parole. She appealed four times but the conviction was rejected each time. What would you like the parole board to do now in your letters?