Amber Guyger Texts: Racist Messages, Trial Use, and Appeals

Two very different sets of Amber Guyger’s text messages became evidence at her 2019 murder trial for killing Botham Jean. During the guilt phase, prosecutors introduced sexually explicit texts she exchanged with her patrol partner on the day of the shooting to argue she was distracted when she walked into the wrong apartment. During sentencing, they introduced racist and violent messages and social media posts to argue the killing was not simply a frightened mistake, as she had testified.

The Texts Sent the Day of the Shooting

On September 6, 2018, Guyger worked a shift of roughly 13.5 hours with the Dallas Police Department while trading messages with her patrol partner, Senior Corporal Martin Rivera. She wrote at one point that she was “super horny today.” Around 9:30 p.m., shortly before she arrived at her apartment complex, she sent Rivera a Snapchat message reading “Wanna touch?”¹

Lead prosecutor Jason Hermus argued the exchanges showed Guyger was planning a rendezvous rather than paying attention, which fed into a chain of errors: parking on the wrong floor, missing Jean’s red doormat, and walking into his apartment. She fired twice, killing the 26-year-old accountant as he sat on his couch eating ice cream.²³ The defense told the jury the affair with Rivera was “ramping down” and had nothing to do with the shooting, blaming a long shift and poor building signage.¹

After the shooting, while on the phone with 911, Guyger texted Rivera at 10:02 p.m.: “I need you. Hurry.” A minute later she wrote: “I f—ed up.” Both she and Rivera deleted the thread the next day. Investigators later recovered the messages. Rivera testified he erased them because “that’s not something I want to be reminded of.”¹

The Racist and Violent Messages Shown at Sentencing

The most damaging texts and social media posts were shown after the jury convicted Guyger of murder on October 1, 2019, during the sentencing phase. Defense lawyers objected that the material would unfairly sway the jury. Judge Tammy Kemp overruled the objection.⁴

The Martin Luther King Jr. Day Exchange

On January 15, 2018, during a Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade in Dallas, someone texted Guyger asking, “When does this end lol.” She replied: “When MLK is dead… oh wait…” In the same thread she suggested the person “Just push them… or spray your pepper spray in that general area,” referring to people at the parade.⁵

The “Racist Dog” Text

On September 4, 2018, two days before she killed Jean, a contact offered Guyger a German shepherd and cautioned, “Although she may be racist.” Guyger answered: “It’s okay.. I’m the same.” A minute later she added: “I hate everything and everyone but y’all.”⁶

Messages About Black Officers

In a March 9, 2018 exchange, Rivera texted Guyger: “Damn I was at this area with 5 different black officers !!! Not racist but damn.” Guyger replied: “Not racist but just have a different way of working and it shows.”⁴

Pinterest Posts and Comments

Prosecutors also displayed images Guyger had saved and commented on. One showed a military sniper with the caption: “Stay low, go fast; kill first, die last; one shot, one kill; no luck, all skill.” Another read: “I wear all black to remind you not to mess with me, because I’m already dressed for your funeral.” Guyger’s comment underneath: “Yah I got meh a gun a shovel an gloves if i were u back da f— up and get out of meh f—ing a–.” A third, featuring a Minion from the film Despicable Me, said, “No one ever thanks me for having the patience not to kill them.” Guyger’s response: “People are so ungrateful.”⁴

How Prosecutors Used the Messages

During the guilt phase, Guyger had told the jury through tears: “I never wanted to take an innocent person’s life… This is not about hate — it’s about being scared.”⁷ The texts and Pinterest activity were offered to contradict that account. The MLK reply, the “I’m the same” answer about a racist dog, the exchange about Black colleagues, and the violent captions on saved images were placed in front of jurors as a portrait prosecutors argued was closer to the truth than Guyger’s testimony.

The daytime texts with Rivera served a different purpose earlier in the trial. Prosecutors used them to undercut the defense’s core theory that the shooting was an honest mistake by a tired officer, arguing instead that Guyger’s attention had been elsewhere in the hours leading up to it.

What the Jury Did With It

The jury convicted Guyger of murder rather than the lesser charge of manslaughter, rejecting her self-defense claim under Texas’s Castle Doctrine that she was justified because she thought she was in her own home.⁸ After the sentencing evidence came in, the jury deliberated about 90 minutes and sentenced her to 10 years in prison. Jurors also rejected the “sudden passion” finding, which could have cut the sentence to as little as two years.⁹

Whether the Texts Featured in the Appeals

Guyger’s appeals turned on jury instructions rather than on the messages themselves. In August 2021, the Dallas Court of Appeals affirmed the conviction, finding that the trial court had erred in giving a mistake-of-fact instruction but that the error did not help Guyger because the instruction should not have been given at all. The court also ruled that mistake-of-fact and self-defense are distinct defenses under Texas law and could not be combined.¹⁰

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals declined to hear her petition for discretionary review on March 30, 2022, over two dissenting votes. The U.S. Supreme Court denied her petition for a writ of certiorari on November 7, 2022, ending her direct appeals.¹¹

Where Guyger Is Now

Guyger is serving her sentence at a Texas state prison in Gatesville. The Board of Pardons and Paroles denied her parole on October 10, 2024, citing the nature of the offense and finding she remains “a continuing threat to public safety.” Her next parole review is set for October 2026, and her 10-year sentence runs until September 2029 if parole is not granted.¹²¹³

1
NBC News. Texts Between Amber Guyger and Dallas Police Partner Revealed at Murder Trial
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CBS News Texas. New Details: Amber Guyger Shot Botham Jean, Door Unlocked
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ABC7 News. Former Dallas Officer Guilty of Murder for Killing Neighbor
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WFAA. Racist and Violent Messages, Social Media Posts Shown During Sentencing Phase of Amber Guyger Trial
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Texas Tribune. Amber Guyger Text Messages Emerge at Sentencing Trial
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CNN. Amber Guyger Trial Offensive Texts
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NBC News. Amber Guyger Found Guilty of Murder in Trial for Fatal Shooting of Neighbor Botham Jean
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ABC News. Amber Guyger Convicted of Murder in Wrong-Apartment Killing of Innocent Man
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Texas Tribune. Amber Guyger Sentencing: Former Dallas Officer Gets 10 Years in Prison
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NBC DFW. Court Upholds Conviction, Sentence of Amber Guyger
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CBS News Texas. U.S. Supreme Court Denies Final Appeal of Amber Guyger
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Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Inmate Search: Guyger, Amber Renee
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Law and Crime. Amber Guyger Fails to Get Out of Prison for Botham Jean Murder