A former Fort Worth police officer has asked a state judge to throw out his manslaughter conviction for the death of a Black woman who was shot through a window in 2019 while spending quality time with her young nephew.
Aaron Dean, who is white, is currently serving a 12-year sentence after a Tarrant County jury convicted him of manslaughter for killing 28-year-old Atatiana Jefferson in her mother’s home in Texas four years ago.
Last week, defense attorney Bob Gill argued in a Fort Worth courtroom that Dean didn’t get a fair trial due to intense media coverage in Tarrant County, and that two judges had made a mistake by each denying a change of venue.
In his opening statement to clear Dean, Gill suggested that the latest proceeding had caused a major commotion in the media, saying “I don’t remember a time where I saw oral argument in a case make the front page of the Star-Telegram above the fold,” in a reference to Fort Worth’s local paper, according to a new report on the case by Law & Crime.
“Part of our argument is based on that extensive publicity, and part of our argument is based on the fact that all of that publicity was generated … by a dangerous combination of individuals in Tarrant County,” Gill added. “Elected officials. High-ranking social officials. Police officials. Many people who all contributed to the narrative in this case that led to Aaron Dean’s conviction.”
The judge in the case has not yet issued a ruling.
Dean was convicted in the case a year ago in December.
Back in August, Dean’s defense filed a court brief claiming that jurors were provided with inaccurate definitions for manslaughter and murder when they were sent away for deliberations at the end of the trial, whereas Gill’s argument this time around was centered primarily on pre-trial publicity.
Dean could have faced 99 years behind bars if the jury had convicted him on the charge of murder, to which he earlier pleaded not guilty. Instead, jurors delivered a verdict that determined a reasonable person in the officer’s shoes would have responded with the same deadly force, reducing his potential time in prison by many decades.
The tragic shooting happened on Oct. 12, 2019, as Jefferson played video games with her then-8-year-old nephew, Zion Carr, when they heard a noise outside that led the aunt to grab her gun.
Moments earlier, a concerned neighbor had called police to conduct a wellness check at the residence because he noticed the front door had been left open for a time.
But it was Jefferson who had propped the door open after she got distracted and burned some hamburgers.
The non-emergency call led Dean and another officer to respond to the scene, where they circled the residence without announcing themselves. Inside, Jefferson approached a window with her gun, unaware that police were feet away, casing the home.
Dean immediately fired through a window where he spotted Jefferson, although prosecutors claimed the officer could not see whether she was actually holding a gun due to how quickly he fired the fatal shot.
Body-camera footage revealed that Dean instructed the woman to raise her arms, but he failed to identify himself as a police officer.
Dean later claimed self-defense, but during the trial prosecutors argued that Dean’s actions did not align with police protocols and that he never should have opened fire.
At the time of the shooting, then-Fort Worth police chief Ed Kraus said Dean had “no excuse” for using lethal force to kill Jefferson, and he and then-Fort Worth mayor Betsy Price expressed regret for initially emphasizing that the victim was armed as a possible rationale for the shooting.
In his argument before the court, Gill sought to target these public statements, as well as those made by then-district attorney Sharen Wilson, saying they were prejudicial to the defendant and potentially damaging to his right to an impartial jury and a fair trial.
Gill, meanwhile, went further to overturn Dean’s conviction, arguing that various statements by public officials helped to ingnite a public firestorm that “quickly turned this case into a racial matter.”
Lawyers for the state, however, countered that almost half the potential jurors claimed they had not heard about the case, but Dean’s attorney suggested that jurors might not always be honest and could be biased due to media coverage.
In the aftermath of the trial, Wilson continues to face criticism for failing to seal a murder conviction against Dean, with civil and legal advocates asserting that her office did not allocate enough resources to prosecute the former officer.
Also in late November, the city of Fort Worth approved a $3.5 million settlement for Zion, who witnessed the tragic death of his aunt more than four years earlier in a fateful series of circumstances.
The funds are being overseen by Zion’s guardians for his continued care, and much of the money will be placed in a savings plan for his future, including a college package and annuity payments until he turns 40.
