A former Fort Worth, Texas, police officer was sentenced to more than 11 months in prison Tuesday, just days after being found guilty of shooting a resident through the window of his home.
Aaron Dean, who is white, shot a 28-year-old black woman, Atatiana Jefferson, through a rear window of her Texas home while responding to a call about an unlocked front door.
This undated photo provided by Jefferson’s family shows Atatiana Jefferson.
(Jefferson’s family via AP)
Jurors considered charging Dean with murder, but convicted him of manslaughter after 13 hours of deliberation.
FORMER TEXAS POLICE OFFICER SENTENCED OF INVOLUNTARY MURDER IN FATAL SHOOTING OF ATATIANA JEFFERSON
On Tuesday, a Tarrant County jury unanimously decided to sentence Dean to 11 years, 10 months and 12 days behind bars, after a day and a half of deliberation.
Fox station KDFW reported that the 10 months and 12 days reflect Oct. 12, when Dean shot Jefferson.
Aaron Dean looks into the gallery before the continued punishment phase of his trial on December 19, 2022, in the Tarrant County 396th District Court at the Tim Curry Criminal Justice Center in Fort Worth, Texas.
(Amanda McCoy/Star-Telegram via AP, Pool)
Family members had the opportunity to speak to Dean after sentencing.
FORMER FORT WORTH OFFICER CHARGED IN THE MURDER OF ATATIANA JEFFERSON
“Aaron Dean, what you thought when you shot our baby through the heart was that you were going to put out his light,” a cousin of Jefferson’s said in court, according to KDFW. “But I’m here to tell you that Atatiana was that light that refuses to die.”
On the night of the shooting, Dean was called to the home with another officer after a neighbor called a non-emergency police line to report that the front door of the Jefferson home was unlocked. During the trial, it was revealed that Jefferson and his nephew, who were playing video games, opened the door to vent smoke from the burgers the boy burned.
Aaron Dean, center, sits with his defense team after he was found guilty of manslaughter in the shooting death of Atatiana Jefferson, Thursday, Dec. 15, 2022, at the Tim Curry Criminal Justice Center in Fort Worth, Texas.
(Amanda McCoy/Fort Worth Star-Telegram via AP, Pool)
Body camera footage of the incident showed Dean and the other officer did not identify themselves as police officers.
JURY DELIBERATES SENTENCE OF FORMER TEXAS OFFICER IN FATAL SHOOTING OF ATATIANA JEFFERSON
The dean and officer Carol Darch testified that they thought the home may have been burglarized, so they quietly moved into the fenced-in backyard, looking for evidence of a forced entry.
Dean then fired a single shot through the window after yelling at Jefferson, who was inside, to show his hands.
Mugshot of Aaron Dean, a Fort Worth police officer charged with the murder of Atatiana Jefferson.
(Tarrant County Jail via AP, File)
Dean claimed that he had to shoot because Jefferson pointed a gun barrel directly at him, but later said that his actions before and after were “poor police work”.
Nephew Zion Carr, now 11, was in the room when Jefferson was shot. He testified in court that his aunt always had her gun pointed downward, but in a taped interview after the courtroom shooting, Carr said she pointed the gun at the window.
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Jefferson’s murder shattered the trust that police had been trying to build with communities of color in Fort Worth, a city of 935,000 about 30 miles west of Dallas that has long had complaints of racially unequal policing and excessive force.
The shooting drew a swift rebuke from the city’s then-police chief and Republican mayor, who at the time called the circumstances “truly unthinkable” and said the fact that Jefferson had a gun was “irrelevant.”
