Updated at 6:05 p.m.: Revised to include details about the grand jury ending the day without voting.

A Dallas County grand jury went home Wednesday without deciding whether to indict a former Dallas police officer in the shooting death of an unarmed 26-year-old in his apartment.

Grand jurors heard testimony all day about whether Amber Guyger should be charged with murder, manslaughter or nothing for killing Botham Jean in his Dallas apartment. They won't return until Friday to either hear additional testimony or vote on an indictment.

Jean was watching a football game when Guyger fatally shot him Sept. 6. She told authorities she mistook his apartment for hers and thought Jean was a burglar.

Amber Guyger

Guyger, 30, was off-duty but still in uniform when she entered Jean's apartment at the South Side Flats complex in the Cedars, a few blocks from police headquarters. She told authorities the door was ajar and unlocked, which Jean's family disputed, saying he was a meticulous person who wouldn't have left his door open.

Guyger was arrested and charged with manslaughter three days after the shooting. She was booked into the Kaufman County Jail and released on bond within an hour.

Botham Jean

Dallas defense attorneys have said murder is the more appropriate charge for Guyger because, in Texas, manslaughter charges are reserved for reckless acts. If Guyger intended to shoot Jean, even if she wrongly assumed he was a burglar, murder would be the charge that fits best, they said.

Guyger's attorney, Robert Rogers, has not returned phone calls seeking comment.

The Jean family's attorneys said they were hopeful that a murder indictment would be handed up.

"Anything less, we feel, would be a miscarriage of justice," attorney Lee Merritt said.

Merritt said Allison Jean, Botham's mother, took the stand before the grand jury Monday. Botham's sister, Allisa Charles-Findley, was on the stand Wednesday afternoon, Merritt said.

If Guyger is indicted on the more severe charge, she could be re-arrested. If that happens, it's possible she could turn herself in at a jail outside Dallas County, as she did previously. It's also possible the grand jury could decide not to charge Guyger.

A charge of murder is punishable by up to life in prison. A charge of manslaughter could come with a penalty of up to 20 years.

Jurors will return Friday because no decision was reached Wednesday. This grand jury meets Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Another Dallas County grand jury meets Tuesdays and Thursdays. The same grand jury must hear all the evidence before voting whether to indict.

The attorneys were unsure why the grand jury proceedings had stretched over multiple days, but they took it as a sign that the district attorney's office was handling the case with "professionalism and seriousness," Merritt said.

"This has taken much longer than even the Jordan Edwards case, where there were more live witnesses," said Daryl Washington, another attorney for the family. "We don't know why it's taken this long, but the one thing that we hope that happens is the right decision comes out of this grand jury room."

Jordan, 15, was shot and killed by a police officer as he left a house party in Balch Springs. Roy Oliver was convicted of murder and sentenced to 15 years in prison.

For weeks after Jean's death, protesters rallied in Dallas, calling for Guyger to be charged with murder.

Guyger was fired from the Dallas Police Department on Sept. 24, the same day Jean was buried in a cemetery by the sea in St. Lucia, the Caribbean nation where he grew up.

Jean had come to the U.S. to attend Harding University in Arkansas and later moved to Dallas for a job as an accountant at PricewaterhouseCoopers. He had hoped to one day return to St. Lucia to run for prime minister.

Grand jurors began hearing evidence in the case against Guyger on Monday.

Washington said Monday that the world had its eyes and ears on Dallas as the grand jury proceedings were underway.

"The fact that there is even a possibility that this officer may not be charged with murder is something that the whole world is looking at," he said.

1 / 2Jean family attorneys Daryl K. Washington (left) and Lee Merritt spoke to the media at the Frank Crowley Courts Building in Dallas on Monday.(Shaban Athuman / Staff Photographer) 2 / 2Bertrum Jean, the father of Botham Jean, spoke next to his wife, Allison, and attorneys Lee Merritt (far left) and Daryl Washington during a media interview in Dallas on Oct. 16.(Rose Baca / Staff Photographer)

Washington and Merritt are representing the family in the federal lawsuit they filed against Guyger and the city of Dallas. In the lawsuit, they argued that Guyger used excessive force and violated Jean's civil rights and said the city could have prevented Jean's death by providing better training to its police officers.

The Jeans met with Dallas County District Attorney Faith Johnson in October, and staff filled the family in on how the investigation had been going. At that point, Johnson said the DA's office had brought in more than 200 witnesses and planned to interview more.

During the meeting, Johnson said she asked Allison Jean, Botham's mother, whether she wanted the DA's office to stop and go to the grand jury. But Jean said to keep going, Johnson said.

DA-elect John Creuzot has said he believes Guyger should be charged with murder. He will take office in January after defeating Johnson in this month's elections.