A former female Dallas cop who wrongly shot and killed a black man eating ice cream in his apartment has been denied parole.
Amber Guyger, now 35, has served just five years behind bars for shooting and killing Botham Jean, 27, when she mistook his apartment for her own on September 6, 2018.
She testified at her trial the following year that she found the door ajar, and shot Jean - who had just been eating ice cream on his couch - because she thought he may be an intruder.
Guyger was ultimately found guilty of murder in 2019, and was sentenced to 10 years in prison, but was up for parole late last month - on what would have been Jean's 33rd birthday.
However, after Jean's family, the Dallas County District Attorney and more than 6,300 people signed an online petition protesting her release, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice denied her request, the Dallas Morning News reports.
An email from the department acknowledged the 'criminal victimization' that Jean's family faced in the aftermath of the shooting in its decision.
'I wasn't expecting a response so quickly,' Allisa Charles-Findley, Jean's sister, told WFAA. 'We were interviewed on Monday by the parole commissioner - the lead commissioner.
'It feels like a load lifted.'
Allison Jean, Botham's mother, also said the family 'feels a sense of relief' by the news, adding that it shows 'part of the accountability that she must have for her actions.'
'My family feels a sense of relief having gone through the process and made a strong petition for denial,' she told CBS News.
'So the news coming in that the board considered our petition is a sense of relief.'
The grieving mother has previously said she does not sense that Guyger felt remorse for the fatal shooting after her previous failed appeals, with Texas' highest criminal court upholding her conviction and the US Supreme court declining to review the case in 2022.
Allison Jean went on to thank everyone who sent emails and letters to the parole board opposing Guyger's release, and in a statement from Jean's family, provided by attorney Allisa Charles-Findley said: 'This is one very important component of justice for [the family] for the senseless death of their brother and son while he was unarmed and minding his own business in his own home.'
Jean's death sparked massive protests across Dallas, and Guyger was fired from the police department in the aftermath.
For years, she has repeatedly tried tried to appeal her conviction, claiming that her mistaking Jean's apartment for her own was reasonable, and therefore, so too was the shooting.
Her lawyer tried to get the appeals court to acquit her of murder or substitute in a conviction for criminally negligent homicide, which carries a lesser sentence.
But Dallas County prosecutors argued that the error was not reasonable, that Guyger acknowledged intending to kill Jean and that 'murder is a result-oriented offense.'
The court's chief justice, Robert Burns III, and Justices Lana Myers and Robbie Partida-Kipness concurred with prosecutors, disagreeing that Guyger's belief that deadly force was needed was reasonable.
In a 23-page opinion, the justices also disagreed that evidence supported a conviction of criminally negligent homicide rather than murder, pointing to Guyger's own testimony that she intended to kill.
'That she was mistaken as to Jean's status as a resident in his own apartment or a burglar in hers does not change her mental state from intentional or knowing to criminally negligent,' the judges wrote.
'We decline to rely on Guyger's misperception of the circumstances leading to her mistaken beliefs as a basis to reform the jury's verdict in light of the direct evidence of her intent to kill.'
Guyger then asked the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals - the state's highest forum for criminal cases - to review the appeals court's ruling.
But the court declined to hear her case in March 2022, upholding her sentence, according to WFAA.
As she faced parole in September, thousands signed an online petition urging the parole to deny her request.
'Amber Guyger was convicted of murder and sentenced to 10 years in prison,' the petition said. 'This sentence was intended to serve as a measure of justice for Botham Jean and his family, and as a statement that such actions will not be tolerated.
'Granting parole at this time would undermine the severity of the crime and the justice that was sought through the legal process.
'Allowing Amber Guyger to be released early would not only be a disservice to Botham Jean's memory, but also to the principles of justice and accountability,' the petition, which has garnered nearly 1,700 signatures as of Tuesday evening, continues.
'We believe that Amber Guyger should serve her full sentence as a reflection of the gravity of her actions and to uphold the integrity of our justice system.
'We urge the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to deny her parole request and ensure that justice is fully served for Botham Jean and his family.'
Guyger now won't be eligible for parole again until 2026.