Texas’s highest criminal court chose to uphold the murder conviction of Amber Guyger, an ex-Dallas police officer found guilty of fatally shooting her neighbor upon entering his home, thinking it was hers.
The Court of Criminal Appeals declined to hear Guyger’s petition to review a lower court’s decision to uphold her 2019 conviction and 10-year prison sentence on Wednesday, likely exhausting most routes to appeal her conviction, according to the Dallas Morning News.
Two justices on the nine-member court filed dissenting opinions on the decision, the outlet reported. Guyger argued in her reason for appeal that it was not her intent to kill anyone.
FORMER DALLAS POLICE OFFICER FOUND GUILTY OF MURDERING BLACK NEIGHBOR IN VICTIM’S OWN APARTMENT
On Sept. 6, 2018, Guyger, off-duty at the time, killed Botham Jean, 26, after entering his apartment, mistaking it for her own one floor above, and believed he was an intruder. Guyger testified during her initial trial that she shot him because she feared for her life.
Following the shooting, she was fired from the Dallas Police Department and indicted on a murder charge.
“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,” Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot wrote in a statement after a previous appeal request, obtained by the outlet.
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Guyger will continue serving her remaining sentence at a prison in Gatesville, Texas. She will be eligible for parole in 2024.
