FORT WORTH, Texas — After five days of testimony in the murder trial of former Fort Worth officer Aaron Dean in the 2019 death of Atatiana Jefferson, the defense and prosecution have rested their cases.
The judge said the jury will be brought back first thing Wednesday morning to hear closing arguments.
Testimony resumed Tuesday with the defense calling law enforcement professor Jay Coons to take the stand as a "use-of-force" expert witness.
Throughout his testimony, Coons told the jury he believed Dean and his partner Officer Darch exemplified "good police work," in responding to Jefferson's home on Oct. 12, 2019.
"They didn't know what they had," Coons said. A statement he repeated several times in describing his observations of how Dean and Darch conducted themselves during the investigation at Jefferson's home.
The nature in which they approached and the observations they were making were "perfectly fine," said Coons.
“Officers’ Dean’s actions that night – and yes this is a terrible event, there’s nothing good about this. But his actions as a police officer were reasonable in what he was doing," Coons testified.
In cross-examination, prosecutor Dale Smith questioned Coons over general orders and Dean's testimony Monday, in which the former officer said he that he was responding to a possible burglary.
When Coons was asked if Dean and Darch should've called for backup, according to general orders, Coons didn't directly answer yes or no. Yet, he did say "hypothetically" if Dean came to the conclusion that it was a burglary-in-progress, there should have been a call for backup.
Smith was also trying to hammer the fact that Coons was not a neurologist in hopes of discrediting his testimony over Dean's thought process in responding to Jefferson's home and leading up to the moments when he decided to pull the trigger, shooting and killing Jefferson.
Following nearly three hours of testimony from Coons, the defense rested. And the judge called for a lunch break for jurors.
When the jury returned, the prosecution called a rebuttal witness to the stand, forensic analyst and instructor Jonathyn Priest.
When questioned over Dean's and Darch's tactical response to Jefferson's home, Priest said they had two better options: knock and announce or back away from the home and call for backup.
"My opinion is that they shouldn’t have left the front door,” said Priest.
Then, the defense questioned Priest over his background, past cases involving officer-involved shootings, and his past testimony on officer-involved shooting cases.
The defense tried to focus on Jefferson’s gun, continually trying to convince the jury that Dean could’ve seen it and that he was justified in killing her.
The prosecution argued he shouldn’t have been there at all and Jefferson was reacting normally.
Following the dueling expert testimony from both sides, the defense and prosecution chose to rest their cases in preparation for closing arguments Wednesday.
On Monday, Dean took the stand in his own defense, stating that the jury needed to "hear from me and hear the truth."
Dean faced hard questioning from the prosecution on his background, his police training and if he would have graded his actions on Oct. 12, 2019, highly.
While recounting the events that led up to the deadly shooting, Dean became visibly shaken and cried.
“I know you’re crying now, but you weren’t crying when you decided not to administer CPR to Atatiana,” prosecutor Dale Smith said to Dean during cross-examination.
Smith hammered Dean over the mistakes 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.
When Smith asked Dean what grade he’d give himself for his actions. Dean answered that he'd give himself a B.
Following Dean's testimony, a video expert took the stand for the last few hours of court on Monday.
Forensics video expert Grant 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 camera's ability to focus from light to dark.
You can watch the entire proceedings on the WFAA+ app on Roku and Amazon Fire TVs, on the WFAA YouTube page, or in the video player below:
Live updates below:
3:28 p.m. Judge Gallagher released the jury for the day, with closing arguments slated to begin Wednesday morning.
3:16 p.m: Both sides have rested in the case.
2:56 p.m.: Priest steps down from the stand.
2:45 p.m.: The defense passes witness back to prosecution.
2:43 p.m.: The defense brings out the gun with the green laser in the case.
2:10 p.m.: The defense begins to question Priest over his expertise background, past cases involving officer-involved shootings, and his past testimony on officer-involved shooting cases.
2:00 p.m.: “My opinion is that they shouldn’t have left the front door,” Priest said.
1:20 p.m.: Following a break, the prosecution called another witness, forensic analyst and instructor Jonathyn Priest to the stand. Priest is testifying over Dean’s and officer Darch’s response to Jefferson’s home.
11:38 a.m.: The defense rests. Judge breaks for lunch.
10:31 a.m.: Cross-examination begins. Coon maintained their actions “good police work."
Prosecutions questioned Coons over the general orders of the call.
10:15 a.m.: The judge calls for a break ahead of cross-examination by the prosecution.
10:14 a.m.: In looking at the totality of circumstances, “Officer’s Dean’s actions that night, yes, this is a terrible event…” Coons said. “But his actions were reasonable in what he was doing.”
8:50 a.m.: Law enforcement professor Jay Coons takes the stand as a "use-of-force" expert witness for the defense.
Coons is testifying on how training prepares officers for calls like "open structure," in which Dean and his partner Officer Darch responded to and the steps that should be taken when arriving at the scene.
"They didn't know what they had," Coons said. A statement he repeated several times in describing his observations of how Dean and Darch conducted themselves during the investigation at Jefferson's home.
The nature in which they approached and observations they were making were "perfectly fine," said Coons.