By Arise Rejoice News Service
A Fort Worth jury on Wednesday afternoon sentenced former Fort Worth police officer Aaron Dean to 11 years, 10 months and 12 days in prison for the fatal killing of Atatiana Jefferson.
Dean, who resigned from the Fort Worth police department shortly after the shooting, was the first police officer in the history of Tarrant County to be sentenced to prison for killing someone while on duty.
Last Wednesday a jury found him guilty in the October, 2019 shooting which fractured the community of Fort Worth. The sentencing phase of the trial began on Friday.
The prosecution, members of Jefferson’s family, and those close to them, wanted Dean found guilty of murder rather than manslaughter.
The manslaughter charge allows a maximum prison sentence of 20 years in Texas. It even allows for supervised probation.
Once found guilty, Dean was arrested. He had been free on bail since the killing three years ago.
Dean’s lawyers asked for probation while a lawyer for the prosecution asked for the mandatory sentence of 20 years.
Prosecutors were not pleased with the manslaughter verdict, saying that the real victims of Dean’s actions were Ms. Jefferson and her family.
During the punishment stage of the trial a psychologist, Dr. Kyle Clanton, said that Dean should never have been hired as a police officer. Dean had narcissistic tendencies, he told the jurors.
Dean’s attorney said that sending Dean to prison would be counterproductive and that it would have a negative impact on members of the police force.
He called Dean a very good man who found himself in a very difficult situation.
Dean’s mother said that he became a police officer because he wanted to help people.
A member of Dean’s church called Dean a “good and noble man,” while testifying.
Dean had said that he believed that Jefferson had a gun on the night of her murder, and that he fired only after commanding her to drop the weapon.
Jefferson’s nephew, who was with her playing video games on the night that she was killed testified that Jefferson had a gun to protect her family and that he nor his aunt heard Dean’s command.
He said that neither he nor his aunt did anything that could be described as threatening towards the officer that fatal night.
In the judgement stage of the trial the jury found that Dean acted recklessly, but that he did not intend to kill Jefferson.
- Under cross examination, Dean testified that he did not alert anyone that he had seen a gun, including his partner, a female member of the police force.
- Dean told the jury that his actions on the night of October 12, 2018 did not reflect quality police work when he fired through a window at the home where Ms. Jefferson’s mother lived.
- During the trial, Dean was characterized as a biased member of the police force who held misgivings against the people who lived in the neighborhood where Ms. Jefferson was slain.
An attorney for Dean said that while he made mistakes he did not commit murder because he was in fear for his life, and that his actions were consistent with proper police training.
Prosecutors said that Ms. Jefferson had an expectation of privacy in her home and that Dean violated that expectation.
Lisa Pamplin, a Fort Worth community leader, and former police officer, who watched the case closely, said after the sentence was announced that she hoped that the verdict and sentence would lead to substantive changes in Fort Worth.
Ms. Jefferson, a graduate of Xavier University in New Orleans was a salesperson for a medical supply company.
