Dallas, Texas.
a former officer of policeman of Texas took the stand as a witness Monday at his judgement from homocide after shooting an African-American woman to death through a back window of her home in 2019.
Aaron Dean testified that “this jury need to hear from me and hear the truth” on the fourth day of his judgement for him homocide by Atathiana Jefferson.
His testimony came more than three years after the white Fort Worth officer fatally shot the 28-year-old as he responded to a call on an open front door.
The testimony is Dean’s first public statement since his days in the Department of Policeman of Fort Worth posted body camera video of the shooting and arrested him on a count of homocide a few days after the event occurred on October 12, 2019. He left the police force without talking to detectives.
POSTPONED
Since then, Dean’s case has been repeatedly delayed amid lawyer disputes, the terminal illness of Dean’s lead attorney, and the COVID-19 pandemic.
His attorneys argued that Dean saw Jefferson grip a gun before he fired, while prosecutors said evidence showed he didn’t see it.
Tarrant County prosecutors dropped the case Wednesday after about two and a half days of testimony.
Dean shot Jefferson after a neighbor called the non-emergency police line to report that the front door to Jefferson’s home was open.
He had played video games with his nephew that evening and in the judgement it is learned that they left the doors open to vent the smoke from the burgers the boy burned.
HIS FAILURE
Body cam footage showed that Dean and a second officer who responded to the call did not identify themselves as cops at the home.
Officer Carol Darch testified last week that she and Dean thought the house might have been burglarized and quietly entered the fenced yard, guns drawn, looking for signs of forced entry.
There, Dean fired a single shot through the window a split second after yelling at Jefferson, who was inside, to show his hands.
Dean’s lawyers said he opened fire after seeing the silhouette of Jefferson with a gun in the window and a green laser sight trained on him.
Darch had his back to the window when Dean fired, but she said she never mentioned seeing a gun before pulling the trigger and said nothing about the gun as they rushed through the house.
Jefferson’s 8-year-old nephew saw his aunt being shot from inside the room.
Sion Carr she testified that Jefferson drew his gun believing there was an intruder in the backyard, but offered conflicting accounts as to whether he pointed the gun out the window.
Carr, now 11, testified on the opening day of the judgement that Jefferson always kept his gun down, but said in an interview it was recorded shortly after the shooting and shown in court pointing the gun at the window.
Testimony
- – The victim’s 8-year-old nephew saw his aunt being shot from inside the room. Zion Carr testified that Jefferson drew his gun believing there was an intruder in the backyard, but offered conflicting accounts as to whether he pointed his gun out the window.
- – Carr, now 11, testified on the opening day of the judgement that Jefferson always kept his gun down, but said in an interview it was recorded shortly after the shooting and shown in court pointing the gun at the window.
