TARRANT COUNTY, Texas — One minute and 17 seconds. That’s how long it took -- from the moment former Fort Worth police officer Aaron Dean arrived at Atatiana Jefferson’s home to when he shot and killed her from the backyard.
Dean took the stand on day four of his murder trial first thing Monday morning.
“This jury needs to hear from me and hear the truth,” said Dean.
His attorneys started by asking him rudimentary questions about his police academy training, including ‘shoot-don’t-shoot’ lessons, codes, radios, call signs and his uniform.
Then they had him walk through what he heard and saw on Oct. 12, 2019, when he shot and killed Jefferson.
Dean testified that, when he first got to the home, it was dark and quiet, but he observed the front door open and saw light spilling from it. He claimed he couldn’t see inside until he got up close to the home and peered through the door.
“Objects were just strewn all over the floor -- it looked ransacked, it was a mess,” said Dean.
Dean told the jury he and his partner, Officer Carol Darch, went around to the side and back of Jefferson’s home to investigate. He claims one of the door frames looked like it had been tampered with.
Dean said, as he stood in the back of the home, he saw a silhouette low in the window of Jefferson's house. He said he could only see the upper arms of the body, and he believed there was movement.
"Well, I thought we had a burglar, so I stepped back straightened up and drew my weapon," Dean testified. "I couldn’t see the hands. So, I drew my weapon intending to tell that person to show me their hands."
Dean was visibly shaken when he started to testify about what happened next. He told the jury he started shouting commands for the silhouette to “put up your hands, show me your hands.”
Said Dean: "I started getting that second command out, I saw the barrel of the gun, and when I saw that gun pointing at me... I shot a single shot from my service weapon."
He testified that he did not know whether the figure in the window was male or female, of if it was the homeowner or an intruder. Rather, he said, he was responding to a threat on his life.
“We’re trained to meet deadly force with deadly force,” Dean told jurors.
After he shot one round through the bedroom window, Dead said he "heard [Jefferson] scream and saw her fall." He then became upset and started to cry during his dramatic account.
Continuing on the stand, Dean said he and his partner then went into the house after he fired the shot, at which point they encountered Jefferson's then-8-year-old nephew, Zion Carr. But, Dean said, he still believed a burglary had happened because the house was a “mess.”
Dean then told the jury he found Jefferson’s gun near her feet. He said he found it loaded with a bullet in the chamber, ready to fire. He said he then radioed for medical help.
He also said he didn’t render aid to Jefferson because his trauma kit was lost.
When asked why he and his partner did not announce themselves as Fort Worth police officers when they arrived at the house on an “open structure” call, Dean explained: “We don’t want to give away our position to a criminal actor who might be on scene. It’s for officer safety.”
Cross-examination
The judge broke for lunch and when the jury returned, cross-examination on Dean began – lasting over an hour.
Prosecutor Dale Smith hammered Dean over the mistakes allegedly made in responding to the call at Jefferson’s home, especially driving home the fact that he did not see the hands of the ‘silhouette’ in the window nor identify to his partner there was a gun, or immediately start CPR on Jefferson.
“I know you’re crying now, but you weren’t crying when you decided not to administer CPR to Atatiana,” Smith said to Dean.
Smith asked Dean several questions concerning Dean’s inspection of the home prior to the shooting. Dean answered multiple times that it was “bad police work.”
Smith attacked Dean’s and his partner’s decision not to announce themselves as Fort Worth police officers while they quietly checked the perimeter of Johnson’s house for signs of a break-in.
If it was solely for officer safety, Smith wanted to know, why did Dean continuously used his high-powered flashlight to look inside cars parked outside, shine it along outside walls and the garage and ultimately use it to peer inside a window where he saw a figure – all of which could have announced their presence to a would-be burglar inside.
Dean said it was dark and they had to use their lights to check for signs of a break-in, which is what they were dispatched there to do.
Smith got Dean to admit that, once they saw no real signs of a break in at both open doors and the garage, he and his partner could have announced themselves instead of continuing to sneak around the property and go into a gated backyard, which is where the window he shot through was located.
When Smith asked Dean what grade he’d give himself for his actions. Dean answered that he would give himself a B.
Two minutes and eight seconds. That’s how long it took Dean and Darch to enter the home after Jefferson was shot.
According to video evidence, almost a full minute passed as Jefferson laid on the floor of her home bleeding out without aid.
After once again hammering the fact that Dean and his partner didn't have a plan in place when investigating Jefferson's home on the night of her death, the prosecution drove home that Dean did have a choice in the decision to shoot Jefferson.
The prosecution then redirected to the defense.
Dean's attorneys asked him about finding the gun near Jefferson's as she lay on the floor.
“Once I found the weapon and picked it up – and I saw the green laser on it... that’s how close we came to dying,” Dean testified.
Some of Jefferson’s family members dabbed their faces with tissue as they listened to their loved one’s killer describe the tragedy.
Dean testified that he grew up in Arlington and was one of six children. He attended the University of Texas at Arlington and majored in physics and minored in mechanical engineering. He worked as an engineer at a commercial refrigerant plant before applying to become a Fort Worth police officer.
He had only been an officer for about a year when he shot Jefferson. His partner was also a rookie.
Video expert takes the stand
In the last two hours of testimony Monday, the defense called forensics video expert Grant Fredericks to the stand.
Fredericks testified on the limitations of the body camera Dean wore the night of Jefferson's death, the camera's field of view and the cameras ability to focus from light to dark.
"They [body cameras] are located at a different position as the officer's eyes," said Fredericks.
Fredericks walked the jury through the different video angles of Dean's bodycam before and after the shooting of Jefferson. He was then cross-examined by the prosecution.
“A human would have much greater ability to perceive than a camera would in this environment... [it's] not designed to replicate the human eye,” Fredericks said,
During the frame by frame analysis, Fredericks pointed out that the video showed “a dark object” emanating from an arm and silhouette in the window.
At that point in the footage, Fredericks said Dean took a deep breath and then shouted: “ Put your hands up! Show me your hands! Show...”
A shot was then fired into window.
Fredericks also answered questions on Dean's positioning in the backyard, and the possible effects of lighting when he shined his flashlight toward the window.
Day Five is expected to start with Fredericks testifying on the audio from Dean's bodycam at the scene.
Last week's testimony
Ahead of Monday, Tarrant County leaders and the public expressed disappointment in the prosecution’s case against Dean.
“How can you rest? We go three [years] before we start a trial. And you go three days? That’s unacceptable. That was a poor job by the prosecution,” said Cory Session, community activist.
During the third day of testimony, the jury heard from the Fort Worth crime scene investigator who collected scan data from Jefferson’s home, the lead detective who processed Dean’s gun, the Tarrant County Medical Examiner, first responders and Jefferson’s eldest sister, Ashley Carr.
In one of the most compelling testimonies, deputy medical examiner Dr. Richard Fries walked the jury through photos of Jefferson’s body and wounds she sustained after being shot and killed by Dean.
Fries called Jefferson’s wounds devastating and said, “I would not expect someone to survive them.”
Carr, Jefferson’s sister, was the only character witness the prosecution called. Car was able to briefly describe Jefferson’s goals and characteristics before the prosecution ended their questions and the defense decided to not cross-examine.
Shortly after, the prosecution rested.
WFAA will stream the trial on multiple platforms -- including WFAA+, YouTube and wfaa.com. (WFAA+ is available on Roku and Amazon Fire.)
You can also watch it in the below embed:
Live updates below:
4:41 p.m.: Judge recesses for the day.
4:15 p.m.: Cross-examination of Fredericks begins. He's testifying on body camera data, audio and photographs from the scene.
4:00 p.m.: Judge calls for break before video expert is to be cross-examined by prosecution.
2:18 p.m.: Forensics video expert Grant Fredericks takes the stand.
Fredericks is testifying on the limitations of the body camera Dean wore the night of Jefferson's death, the camera's field of view and the cameras ability to focus from light to dark.
"They [body cameras] are located at a different position as the officer's eyes," said Fredericks.
Fredericks walked the jury through the different video angles before and after the shooting of Jefferson.
1:56 p.m.: Dean steps down from stand.
1:45 p.m.: Defense redirects in the questioning of Dean.
1:18 p.m.: Dean remains on the stand for cross-examination.
Video is played of Jefferson's final moments.
12:15 p.m.: Judge calls for lunch break.
11:30 a.m.: One minute and 17 seconds. That's how much time it was from the moment Dean arrived at Jefferson's home to the time he shot and killed her, the prosecution presented in cross-examination.
Prosecutor Smith asked Dean what grade he'd give himself for the response. Dean answered, "'B'."
11:10 a.m.: Prosecutor Dale Smith starts cross-examining Dean over mistakes made in responding to Jefferson's home.
11:06 a.m.: Prosecution had Dean demonstrate the position of the “silhouette” he saw.
10:41 a.m.: Judge calls for morning break called ahead of cross-examination.
10:28 a.m.: Dean start recalling the steps he and the other responding officer took to try and render aid after realizing he shot Jefferson.
But he said, he still believed a burglary had happened because the house was a "mess."
10:15 a.m.: Dean told the jury he looked through the back window and saw a person low in the window. He said he could only see the upper arms and believed there was movement.
“Well, I thought we had a burglar, so I stepped back straightened up and drew my weapons. I couldn’t see the hands. So, I drew my weapon intending to tell that person to show me their hands,” Dean said.
Dean says he began to shout commands when he turned his gun light on.
"I was shouting commands, put up your hands, put up your hands, show me your hands."
“The gun was pointed directly at me,” said Dean.
Why didn’t you the let the commands finish out? The defense asked Dean.
“We’re taught to meet deadly force with deadly force,” he answered.
9:50 a.m.: Dean begins to recount the night he responded to Jefferson's home.
He said he remembers it being dark, seeing the front door open and light spilling out of the door of the home.
“Objects were just strewn all over the floor, it looked ransacked, it was a mess,” said Dean, when he looked through the closed storm door.
He told the jury, he believed it was a burglary.
Dean told the jury he looked through the back window and saw a person low in the window. He said he could only see the upper arms and believed there was movement.
“Well, I thought we had a burglar, so I stepped back straightened up and drew my weapons. I couldn’t see the hands. So, I drew my weapon intending to tell that person to show me their hands,” Dean said.
9:29 a.m.: Aaron Dean takes the stand for the first time in this trial. “This jury needs to hear from me and hear the truth,” said Dean.
Dean is being asked questions over his police academy training, including 'shoot-don't shoot lessons, codes, radios, call signs and the uniform he was wearing in lead up to the shooting death of Jefferson.