Former Texas police officer sentenced to nearly 12 years for 2019 killing of Atatiana Jefferson in her home | 24CA News

A former Texas police officer who fatally shot Atatiana Jefferson by a rear window of her house in 2019 was sentenced on Tuesday to 11 years and 10 months in jail for his manslaughter conviction.

Aaron Dean, 38, had confronted as much as 20 years in jail, however jurors additionally had the choice of sentencing him to probation. The identical jury that convicted him of manslaughter Thursday additionally decided the sentence.

The white Fort Worth officer shot the 28-year-old Black girl whereas responding to a name about an open entrance door. His responsible verdict was a uncommon conviction of an officer for killing somebody who was additionally armed with a gun.

During the trial, the first dispute was whether or not Dean knew Jefferson was armed. Dean testified that he noticed her weapon; prosecutors claimed the proof confirmed in any other case.

Dean shot Jefferson on Oct. 12, 2019, after a neighbour referred to as a non-emergency police line to report that the entrance door to Jefferson’s house was open. She had been enjoying video video games that evening along with her eight-year-old nephew and it emerged at trial that they left the doorways open to vent smoke from hamburgers the boy had burned.

Body cam footage confirmed police did not ID themselves 

The case was uncommon for the relative pace with which the Fort Worth Police Department launched video of the capturing and arrested Dean, amid public outrage. He’d accomplished the police academy the yr earlier than and give up the pressure with out talking to investigators.

Since then, the case was repeatedly postponed amid lawyerly wrangling, the terminal sickness of Dean’s lead lawyer and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Body digicam footage confirmed that Dean and a second officer who responded to the decision did not establish themselves as police on the home.

Dean and Officer Carol Darch testified that they thought the home might need been burglarized and quietly moved into the fenced-off yard searching for indicators of pressured entry.

There, Dean, whose gun was drawn, fired a single shot by the window a split-second after shouting at Jefferson, who was inside, to point out her arms.

Dean testified that he had no selection when he noticed Jefferson pointing the barrel of a gun instantly at him. But beneath questioning from prosecutors he acknowledged quite a few errors, repeatedly conceding that actions he took earlier than and after the capturing had been “more bad police work.”

Darch’s again was to the window when Dean shot, however she testified that he by no means talked about seeing a gun earlier than he pulled the set off and did not say something concerning the weapon as they rushed in to go looking the home.

Dean acknowledged on the witness stand that he stated one thing concerning the gun solely after seeing it on the ground inside the home and that he by no means gave Jefferson first assist.