A former Fort Worth, Texas police officer was sentenced to more than 11 months of incarceration on Tuesday, just days after being found guilty of shooting a resident through the window of her home.
Aaron Dean, who is White, shot the 28-year-old Black woman, Atatiana Jefferson, through a rear window of her Texas home while responding to a call about an open 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 instead convicted him of manslaughter after 13 hours of deliberation.
FORMER TEXAS POLICE OFFICER CONVICTED OF MANSLAUGHTER 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 deliberating.
Fox station KDFW reported the 10 months and 12 days reflects the day of Oct. 12, when Dean shot Jefferson.
Aaron Dean looks towards the gallery before the continuation of the punishment phase of his trial on Dec. 19, 2022, at Tarrant County’s 396th District Court at the Tim Curry Criminal Justice Center in Fort Worth, Texas.
(Amanda McCoy/Star-Telegram via AP, Pool)
Family members were given the opportunity to address Dean after the sentencing.
EX-FORT WORTH OFFICER INDICTED FOR MURDER OF ATATIANA JEFFERSON
“Aaron Dean, what you though when you shot our baby through her heart was that you were going to put her light out,” a cousin of Jefferson’s said in court, according to KDFW. “But I am here to tell you that Atatiana was that light that refuses to die.”
On the night of the shooting, Dean was called to the house with another officer after a neighbor called a non-emergency police line to report the front door to Jefferson’s home was open. During the trial, it was revealed that Jefferson and her nephew, who were playing video games, opened the door to vent smoke from hamburgers 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 FORMER TEXAS OFFICER’S SENTENCE IN FATAL SHOOTING OF ATATIANA JEFFERSON
Dean and Officer Carol Darch testified that they thought the house may have been burglarized, so they quietly moved into the fenced-off backyard, searching for evidence of a forced entry.
Dean then fired a single shot through the window after shouting at Jefferson, who was inside, to show her 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 he had to shoot because Jefferson pointed the barrel of a gun directly at him, but he later said his actions before and after were “bad police work.”
The now 11-year-old nephew, Zion Carr, was in the room when Jefferson was shot. He testified in court that his aunt always had the gun pointed down, but in an interview recorded after the shooting that was played in court, Carr said she pointed the weapon at the window.
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Jefferson’s killing shattered trust 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 swift rebuke from the city’s then-police chief and Republican mayor, who at the time called the circumstances “truly unthinkable” and said Jefferson having a gun was “irrelevant.”
