FORT WORTH, Texas — An appeals court Thursday upheld the manslaughter conviction of the former Fort Worth police officer who shot and killed Atatiana Jefferson through the window of a Fort Worth home in 2019.
A Tarrant County jury convicted Aaron Dean of manslaughter in December 2022 for the October 2019 shooting. Dean was initially charged with murder, but the jury found him guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter and sentenced him to nearly 12 years in prison.
Aaron Dean's lawyers sought to appeal the verdict, arguing that a lower court should've moved his trial out of Tarrant County, where the shooting prompted protests and drew significant media attention, and specifically arguing that statements made by the then-police chief, district attorney and mayor may have influenced the jury pool.
“In sum, although the media coverage in this case was intense and the DA’s Office deviated from its standard practices in officer-involved shooting cases, the trial court could have reasonably concluded that Dean failed to show a dangerous combination against him that was led by influential persons such that he could not expect a fair trial in Tarrant County,” the ruling from the Second Court of Appeals this week read.
109 of 190 potential jurors indicated they had “read something, heard something, or seen something” about the case, and of those empaneled in the trial, “only three had indicated that they had heard about Dean’s case,” according to court documents.
As WFAA reported at the time, the 2019 shooting happened as Jefferson was babysitting her nephew Zion Carr. According to court documents, the two were playing video games and, after burning hamburgers, had opened doors of the home to clear out smoke.
Dean and another officer were dispatched to the home on a wellness check, and noticed its front and side doors open. Dean testified that he “thought the home appeared to have been burglarized,” according to court documents.
The officers entered the fenced backyard and after “Jefferson heard a noise coming from the backyard" she then "got a handgun out of her purse and approached a window facing the backyard,” court documents showed.
Dean testified during trial that he yelled commands at Jefferson to show her hands, saw a gun pointed at him and, according to court documents, “fired a single shot at the silhouette as he yelled the commands,” that fatally struck Jefferson in the torso.
Zion Carr, who witnessed the shooting as an 8-year-old, is slated to receive $3.5 million in a settlement agreement the Fort Worth City Council voted to issue late last year -- reportedly the largest settlement in Fort Worth’s history.
