Supreme Court denies Amber Guyger's appeal in Botham Jean murder
Guyger, 34, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for the shooting death of Jean at his apartment in September 2018.
DALLAS — The Supreme Court has denied former Dallas police officer Amber Guyger's appeal over her murder conviction in the shooting death of Botham Jean in 2018, according to a ruling Monday.
Guyger's attorneys
had argued in a petition for writ of certiorari that Guyger's "rights to due process were violated" over a lower court's interpretation of Guyger's self-defense and mistake-of-fact claims in the shooting.
The Supreme Court did not issue an opinion in the ruling Monday; Guyger's
case proceedings page included an update that the petition had been denied.
Guyger, 34, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for the shooting death of Jean at his apartment in September 2018. Guyger said she entered Jean's apartment, thinking it was her own, before shooting him. Guyger lived on the floor below Jean at the South Side Flats apartments.
In March, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals refused to hear Guyger's petition to review a lower court's decision to uphold her conviction and sentence.
While the nine-member court has the finale appellate jurisdiction in Texas criminal cases, Guyger appealed to the Supreme Court, asking the justices to have a lower court review her case again.
The Supreme Court denied the petition.
Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot responded in a filing to the Supreme Court, saying "Guyger’s unsuccessful attempt to make a constitutional issue out of her disagreement with the state court’s fact-bound and state-law-grounded decision does not warrant the Court’s attention."
It was not immediately clear if Guyger had any further legal path in the appeals process.
Guyger remains in a state prison in Gatesville. Her projected release date is 2029, and she is eligible for parole in 2024.
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