By Maggie Prosser, Krista M. Torralva, Jamie Landers and Kelli Smith
FORT WORTH — A Tarrant County jury convicted former Fort Worth police officer Aaron Dean of manslaughter Thursday for fatally shooting a 28-year-old Black woman when he responded to a call at her mother’s home.
Dean, who is white, faces two to 20 years in prison for killing Atatiana Jefferson, a doting aunt and aspiring doctor who grew up in Dallas’ Oak Cliff area and graduated from Xavier University in Louisiana. Dean stood expressionless while state District Judge George Gallagher read the verdict.
Dean,38, shot Jefferson through her bedroom window from the backyard. A concerned neighbor called a nonemergency police line about 2:30 a.m. Oct. 12, 2019, because the home’s doors were open and the lights were on inside. Jefferson and her 8-year-old nephew, Zion Carr, were up late playing video games and left the doors open to air out smoke after they burned hamburgers at dinnertime. Jefferson moved into the East Fort Worth home to care for her ailing mother and Zion, whose mother was also in poor health.
Key questions for the jury were whether Dean saw Jefferson’s gun — which she grabbed when she heard a noise in the backyard — and if he was justified as an on-duty police officer to shoot her. Prosecutors said Jefferson had a right to defend herself. Dean and a fellow officer did not announce themselves when they responded to the call. Whether Dean and his partner should have announced their presence was a focus of the five days of testimony. The trial began Dec. 5.
Dean was booked in the Tarrant County jail late Thursday afternoon. The punishment phase will begin Friday morning. Dean has opted for the jury to decide his sentence. Those convicted of manslaughter are eligible for probation.
The jury of seven men and five women deliberated Dean’s guilt for about 14 hours over two days. They rejected a murder conviction sought by prosecutors, which could have led to a life sentence. The difference is whether jurors believed Dean acted intentionally or knowingly for a murder conviction versus recklessly for manslaughter. Although some of the 12 jurors and two alternates are people of color, none are Black.
Anxiety filled the hallway outside the courtroom before the verdict, which was announced just after 2:30 p.m. As the judge read the verdict, Jefferson’s brother, Adarius Carr, wrapped his arm around sister Ashley Carr. A few activists stormed out of the courtroom. A juror covered her face and looked down as people screamed in anguish and anger outside the courtroom.
Jefferson’s siblings were then whisked out of the courtroom. Ashley and Adarius Carr held hands as they left, and Adarius Carr’s eyes welled with tears. Dean’s family lingered; they hugged Dean and his father patted his shoulder before leaving, silently walking past journalists, activists and Jefferson’s relatives.
Reactions to the verdict
Allison Jean, the mother of Botham Jean, said Dean “deserves a murder conviction” like her son’s killer and former Balch Springs officer Roy Oliver,who were convicted of murder by Dallas County juries. Amber Guyger was sentenced to 10 years for murdering Botham Jean, a Black man, inside his apartmentwhile he ate ice cream. She was off-duty but still in uniform. Guyger said at her trial she believed she was entering her apartment and shot to kill Jean because she thought he was an intruder. Guyger was sentenced 10 days before Dean killed Jefferson.
Oliver was convicted of murder and sentenced to 15 years in prison for the on-duty killing of 15-year-old Jordan Edwards, who had done nothing wrong and was unarmed as he left a party. Oliver murdered Jordan as the teen was sitting in the passenger seat of a car driving away from Oliver and another officer.
“Atatiana had every right to guard herself and Zion, and Aaron Dean said that he did a lousy job as a police officer in shooting her when she was not a threat,” Allison Jean told The Dallas Morning News. Allison Jean did not attend the trial, but her daughter was in the courtroom for at least one day of testimony.
As wails of “no Justice, no peace” boomed in the background, attorney and friend of Jefferson’s family, Lesa Pamplin said she was happy to see the jury took its time in coming to a decision.
“This is a first,” she said of the trial. “I’m glad [after] everybody talked about the make up of the jury, that these folks gave a good, hard look at the evidence and they didn’t rush it. I’m happy, not pleased.”
Outside the courtroom, Lee Merritt, a lawyer representing Jefferson’s family in a civil lawsuit, said the appropriate conviction was murder. A gag order prohibits Dean, his defense lawyers, Jefferson’s family and the prosecutors from speaking publicly before the trial ends.
“It’s hard to see now, but it’s a victory,” Bishop Mark Kirkland of Greater St. Mark Ministries in Fort Worth, said.
About two dozen supporters of Jefferson’s family gathered outside the front of the courthouse as Dean’s parents were escorted out a side door and his siblings walked to a parking lot. The group of supporters followed closely behind, chanting, “This is what Fort Worth looks like.”
When asked about her hopes for Dean’s forthcoming sentence, Rev. Crystal Bates, who leads the DFW Metro NAACP, said she prays “justice is served.”
Dean’s conviction “is going to send a message not only to him, but other law enforcement not to be so trigger happy when you see somebody of color,” she said. “I hope the sentence sets a precedent so that other officers will think twice.”
Cliff Sparks, a friend of Jefferson’s family, said thejury’s decision will embolden other officers.
“With this verdict, it gives another officer the understanding that he can shoot and kill somebody in his own backyard and get the lesser charge,” he said. “It’s not right. None of this is right.”
Sparks said the jury wasn’t thorough enough in reviewing the evidence, especially whether Dean saw Jefferson’s gun.
“At some point, we have to say it’s not enough for someone to claim they saw something. We have to justify it, right?” he said. “It’s not a good look for the city of Fort Worth.”
State troopers arrived at the Tarrant County courthouse Wednesday but were not seen after the verdict. Gov. Greg Abbott’s office did not respond to a request for comment about why or how many troopers were deployed.
“It’s unnecessary and it makes people uneasy,” Cory Session, vice president for the Innocence Project of Texas, said about the troopers’ presence early Thursday.
Lawyers’ arguments
Prosecutors argued throughout the trial that Dean did not act in self-defense when he fired the lethal shot that pierced Jefferson’s heart. They said Dean didn’t see Jefferson’s gun or follow proper department procedures when he arrived at the home and investigated what Dean testified he believed might be a burglary.
Dean’s lawyer Bob Gill said Wednesday in closing arguments Dean acted within his Fort Worth police training to meet deadly force with deadly force. Dean testified he saw the barrel of Jefferson’s gun; his lawyers said in opening statements he also saw a green laser attached to his gun pointed at him, however, Dean did not testify to that.
Prosecutor Ashlea Deener described Dean as a “power-hungry” officer with tunnel vision who had a “preconceived notion” about East Fort Worth as a dangerous neighborhood plagued by crime. She said Fort Worth officers were “ashamed” to have called Dean a “brother in blue.”
“It wasn’t important to [Dean] to serve and protect that day,” Deener said. “It was important for him to get there, get in the action.”
Gill called pointing a gun at a police officer an “aggressive, provocative act” that elicited Dean to act. Gill stressed police work is inherently dangerous.
Dean “saw a firearm pointed at him and based upon his training he reacted,” Gill said. “He acted tragically but he acted correctly under the law. … He reasonably believed that his actions, his deadly force, was immediately necessary to counter [Jefferson’s] use of unlawful deadly force.”
What witnesses said
Both sides closed their cases Tuesday afternoon. Prosecutors rested their case-in-chief after three days of testimony last week, surprising some legal experts. They initially did not put on an expert to testify to whether Dean’s killing of Jefferson was justified. But after the defense called three witnesses — including Dean who testified about four hours earlier this week — the prosecution called their own police expert as a rebuttal witness.
Jurors heard contradictory opinions on the last day of testimony from the police use-of-force experts about whether Dean acted reasonably.
Prosecutors have said Dean did not follow proper Fort Worth police procedure when he responded to the neighbor’s concerns, which were coded by a call taker as an “open structure.” Prosecutor Dale Smith lambasted Dean on the witness stand about measures prosecutors argued he failed to take when he arrived at the home in the 1200 block of East Allen Avenue.
But Dean and his lawyers said he believed the house was ransacked and a burglar may have been inside. Dean yelled commands and fired within less than a second, according to testimony.
Jefferson’s nephew, Zion Carr, told a child forensic interviewer the morning of the shooting that Jefferson pointed a gun toward the window. But on the stand last week, the now-11-year-old boy said she kept the gun at her side. Zion also told the interviewer he heard someone yell outside the window and thought he saw a police badge. But on the stand, Zion said he didn’t hear or see anything outside. Defense lawyers later implied to the judge they believe Zion was coached to give a different account of the shooting.
Dean resigned before the Police Department could fire him, the then-interim police chief said at the time. City officials said Jefferson had a right to defend herself within her home.
Before Dean’s arrest, no Tarrant County officer had ever faced a murder charge, the district attorney’s office said at the time.
