Texas high court upholds conviction of former Dallas cop Amber Guyger
AUSTIN (CBSDFW.COM) — Texas' highest criminal court has declined to reconsider former Dallas Police officer Amber Guyger's murder conviction, effectively upholding the sentence and exhausting the appeals process.
This marks the latest setback in a string of appeals Guyger's lawyers have filed since she was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2019 for the murder of Botham Jean.
Guyger fatally shot Jean in his Dallas apartment in September 2018 after she walked into the unit, mistakenly believing it was her own. She claimed she thought Jean was an intruder.
Guyger's petition for discretionary review (PDR) asked the court to reconsider her conviction on the grounds that it "the evidence was legally insufficient to support the jury's rejection of her self-defense claim." Her lawyers alleged that the prosecution did not properly demonstrate that Guyger did not believe she was entering her own apartment or that she reasonably believed Jean to be an intruder.
With the appeals process exhausted, Guyger will continue serving her 10 year sentence in Mountain View State Prison in Gatesville. She will be eligible for parole in 2024.