Family of man shot dead by police officer in his home calls for ‘accountability’

Former Dallas police officer Amber Guyger became eligible for parole this weekend, five years after he was convicted of murder in the fatal shooting of Botham Jean in 2018. Jean’s family is calling on the parole board to deny Guyger’s parole and ensure that she serves her full ten-year sentence.

“We have to deal with this punishment for the rest of our lives. So for the person responsible for unjustly and senselessly taking Botham from us, the logical thing to do is to allow her to serve her full sentence,” Allisa Charles-Findley, Jean’s sister, told ABC News in an interview on Monday. “And ten years is a light sentence for murder for me.”

Guyger fatally shot 26-year-old Jean on September 6, 2018, while he was eating ice cream at his home in Dallas, Texas, after accidentally entering his apartment, believing it was her own. She was convicted of murder on October 1, 2019, after a jury unanimously rejected Guyger’s self-defense claims in the fatal shooting.

Charles-Findley and her family, including her mother and brother Brandt, who publicly forgave Guyger in an extraordinary moment during her 2019 sentencing hearing, all want Guyger to serve her full sentence and plan to share their thoughts in interviews with the parole. boarding next week, she told ABC News.

“Brandt’s forgiveness of Amber Guyger does not mean she will not be punished for her crime,” Charles-Findley said. “Forgiveness does not trump punishment, so whether he forgave her or not, that has no bearing on her serving her full sentence for committing that crime.”

The date for Guyger’s parole hearing has not yet been set and her attorney did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.

Guyger was sentenced to 10 years in prison on October 2, 2019, and became eligible for parole on Sunday – the day that would have been Jean’s 33rd birthday.

With Guyger eligible for parole, Charles-Findley said her brother’s birthday this year was a “very difficult day” for the family as they honored his memory.

“Botham was a praise singer in church, so every song reminded me of him. I could hear him singing it,” she said. “So yesterday was difficult. We spent it together in church. But after that I just needed time for myself and, like the last six years, I spent Botham’s birthday in bed crying.”

Guyger, who was fired as a Dallas police officer after the shooting, initially faced a maximum prison sentence of up to 99 years in the case.

Her verdict initially disappointed Jean’s family, with some of them bursting into tears and shaking their heads after it was announced.

“Ten years was a bitter pill to swallow, but in the end I accepted it,” Charles-Findley told ABC News. “So now, five years later, to have to deal with the fact that she’s eligible for parole… This whole ordeal again, because every minute I have a pit in my stomach wondering if she’ll be released early, and how, how am I supposed to accept it now?

While giving her victim impact statement ahead of Guyger’s sentencing hearing in October 2019, Jean’s mother, Allison Jean, said she had trouble working or sleeping and that her family’s life had not been the same since her middle child was murdered.

“I have to keep the family together because everyone is hurting,” she said.

Meanwhile, Guyger’s mother, Karen Guyger, said her daughter has not been the same since the shooting and that she “wanted to take (Jean’s) place. She always told me she wished she could have taken his place. She has a very bad feeling about it.”

Jean’s then 18-year-old brother took the witness stand and spoke to Guyger.

“I know if you go to God and ask Him, He will forgive you,” Brandt Jean said.

Brandt Jean, who opened up about why he chose to forgive his brother’s killer in an exclusive interview with “Good Morning America” on Oct. 4, 2019, then asked the judge if he could give Guyger a hug — a request the judge granted.

“This is what you have to do to free yourself,” Brandt Jean told “GMA.” “I didn’t really plan on spending the rest of my life hating this woman.”

Charles-Findley said that while her brother forgave Guyger because it was “necessary that he be relieved of the burden,” she is “not there yet.”

“I haven’t started processing forgiving Amber Guyger yet. I know, my reasoning is: I don’t believe her story. “I don’t believe she was honest about the events that happened that night,” she said.

Charles-Findley has petitioned the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the matter as she seeks “full accountability,” she noted.

“As his big sister, I will not stop until I do my utmost to take full responsibility for him because he deserves it. He didn’t do anything wrong. Eating ice cream in your apartment, watching football is not a crime, regardless of the color of your skin,” she said. The Justice Department did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.

Following her conviction, Guyger’s attorney filed multiple appeals, but they were dismissed by the Court of Criminal Appeals — Texas’ highest court — in 2022, according to ABC Dallas affiliate WFAA.

Unless she is released on parole, court records indicate Guyger has an expected release date of September 29, 2029.

Bill Hutchinson of ABC News contributed to this report.