What to know about the trial for Aaron Dean, the ex-Fort Worth cop facing a murder charge

The murder trial for the former Fort Worth officer who killed Atatiana Jefferson is underway more than three years since the fatal shooting.

The state rested its case Wednesday. Testimony resumes Monday with the defense presenting its witnesses to jurors. It’s unclear whether Aaron Dean, 38, will testify. He faces up to life in prison if convicted of murder for shooting and killing Jefferson in her mother’s home Oct. 12, 2019.

A few details about what happened are undisputed: Dean and another officer showed up to Jefferson’s home after a concerned neighbor called police about an open door at the home. Jefferson, who had been playing video games with her 8-year-old nephew, heard a noise outside and got her gun. Dean shouted, “Put your hands up, show me your hands,” and within seconds fatally shot Jefferson through a back window.

But whether or not Dean was justified when he fired the fatal shot is a key question being debated in the Tarrant County courtroom. Jurors must decide whether Jefferson’s death was murder. Although some of the 12 jurors and two alternates are people of color, none are Black. Dean is white, and Jefferson was Black.

Here’s what you need to know about the trial.

Legal experts were surprised prosecutors rested so quickly and activists were angry

The length of the case put on by prosecutors surprised lawyers and observers packed into the courtroom and angered activists. Court ended before noon on Monday so people could attend the funeral for one of Dean’s lawyers and testimony ended mid-afternoon Wednesday.

Lawyers not involved in the case said they were shocked prosecutors didn’t ask about Jefferson’s right to use deadly force.

“That is the one thing you need to get your jury ready to deal with, and you need to hammer the fact that this was her home,” Dallas-based defense lawyer Alison Grinter Allen said. “She had no idea who was outside. Yes, it’s illegal to point a gun at a police officer, but it’s not illegal to point a gun at somebody who is on your porch at night that you can’t identify.”

The Dallas-based social justice nonprofit organization Next Generation Action Network said it was appalled by the brevity of the prosecutors’ case. Members of the group were present throughout the trial. Prosecutors’ witness list from October 2021 named more than 200 people the state could have called to testify. Court will resume Monday when defense lawyers present their case.

“This is beyond troubling that after three years of waiting for this trial, only three days were used; this doesn’t show the community that the Tarrant County DA is taking this case seriously at all,” the organization said in a statement.

The Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office declined to comment, citing a gag order that prevents Dean, the lawyers or Jefferson’s family from speaking publicly before the trial ends.

Prosecutors say Dean had no reason to use lethal force

Prosecutors argued in opening statements Dean did not see the gun in Jefferson’s hand and had no reason to use lethal force. Once inside the house, Dean did not immediately tend to Jefferson’s wound, and first used his flashlight to scan the room and note the gun on the floor, prosecutor Ashlea Deener said. Dean pressed a blanket to Jefferson’s chest after more officers arrived, Deener said.

“This is not a justification, this is not a self-defense case — this is murder,” Deener said.

The defense said Dean thought the home was burglarized

Miles Brissette, one of Dean’s defense attorneys, said during opening statements that jurors need to consider what Dean knew at the time of the shooting — not what was learned afterward.

The nonemergency call was coded an open structure, which Fort Worth police policies state should be treated as “a silent alarm,” Brissette said. He said officers responding to that type of call need to inspect the building for forced entry and not reveal their position.

Dean saw what he thought was a ransacked home — with open kitchen cabinets and things scattered on the floor — and thought it was a burglary in progress, his attorney said. A mower and a bicycle were on the ground outside.

Brissette told jurors Dean saw through the back window a silhouette with a gun and a green laser aimed at him, which he perceived to be a threat.

Brissette said the case is about fact and not emotion, and Dean yelled out commands as trained before he fired.

Jefferson’s young nephew said his aunt’s gun was by her side

Zion Carr was 8 when he saw his aunt fall to the floor after Dean shot her. Now 11, he took the witness stand on the first day of testimony and said he thought he was dreaming when Jefferson collapsed.

Before the shooting, Zion saw his aunt take her gun from her purse and approach the back window of the bedroom, with the gun close to her side, he told jurors. Outside the presence of the jury, prosecutor Dale Smith said that testimony was the first time Zion said Jefferson kept the gun at her hip — he’d previously told authorities Jefferson held the gun up, Smith said.

Zion also told jurors he didn’t remember seeing or hearing police officers outside, but lawyers said that differed from what he told a forensic interviewer in the hours after the shooting. Defense lawyers implied to the judge they believed Zion was coached to give a different account in court.

Zion was upbeat before testimony, but under defense questioning, he grew frustrated and struggled to answer some questions. He repeatedly said “I don’t remember” when the defense pressed him on what he told authorities after the shooting in 2019.

Officer who was with Dean said they didn’t follow proper procedure

The officer who was with Dean the night of the shooting, Carol Darch, told jurors on the second day of testimony she and Dean did not announce their presence in case a burglar was in the home. She said she followed Dean’s lead and they didn’t say much to each other.

Darch said there wasn’t damage on the home’s open doors. The exterior doors were open because Zion and Jefferson burned hamburger patties and wanted to air out the home, Zion testified.

Darch said she and Dean didn’t follow procedure and secure entrances and exits before they inspected the rest of the building. She and Dean also didn’t call the homeowner, which is required when there are no signs of damage or forced entry.

Dean did not say “gun” before shooting or tell Darch he saw a gun as they rushed inside the home, according to Darch’s testimony and body-camera footage.

Other testimony

James Smith, the neighbor who called police about Jefferson’s open door, testified that his call wasn’t an emergency, and he later saw two silhouettes approach the home but didn’t immediately realize they were police. He said he relives the shooting daily and feels somewhat responsible for Jefferson’s death.

Jurors also heard from a former 911 call-taker, a crime scene investigator and a detective who responded to the home after the shooting happened.