A Tarrant County jury is deliberating Wednesday whether former Fort Worth police officer Aaron Dean committed murder when he shot and killed Atatiana Jefferson. Jurors can also consider whether Dean committed manslaughter or find him not guilty.
Dean, 38, faces up to life in prison if convicted of murder in the shooting death of 28-year-old Atatiana Jefferson. Dean, who is white, shot Jefferson, who was Black, through her bedroom window from the backyard when the officer responded to a call at the East Fort Worth home. Jefferson grabbed her gun when she heard a noise outside. Dean and the other officer in the backyard did not announce they were police officers.
A concerned neighbor called a nonemergency police line about 2:30 a.m. on Oct. 12, 2019, because the doors of the home in the 1200 block of East Allen Avenue were open and lights were on inside. Jefferson and her 8-year-old nephew were up late playing video games and left the doors open to air out smoke after burning hamburgers at dinnertime.
Although some of the 12 jurors and two alternates are people of color, none are Black. Jurors will be sequestered during deliberations.
At the time of his arrest, Dean was the first Tarrant County police officer charged with murder. Here’s what happened to other North Texas police officers accused of murder.
Dallas police officer Amber Guyger
On Oct. 2, 2019, white Dallas police officer Amber Guyger was sentenced to 10 years for murdering Botham Jean, an innocent Black man, inside his apartment while she was off-duty but still in uniform. Ten days later, Dean shot and killed Jefferson.
Jurors heard from Guyger in her murder trial before deciding her prison sentence. Guyger said she believed she was entering her apartment on the third floor of the Southside Flats Apartments when she got home from her shift the night of Sept. 6, 2018. Guyger, who is white, said she shot to kill Jean because she thought he was an intruder. Guyger was instead on the wrong floor and entered Jean’s apartment, which was directly above hers. Jean, a 26-year-old accountant, was eating ice cream on the couch just before he got up when Guyger entered.
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Balch Springs police officer Roy Oliver
In 2018, former Balch Springs officer Roy Oliver was convicted of murder and sentenced to 15 years in prison for the on-duty killing of Jordan Edwards, 15, who had done nothing wrong and was unarmed as he left a party. Oliver murdered Jordan as the teen was sitting in the passenger seat of a car driving away.Farmers Branch police officer Ken Johnson
Also in 2018, Farmers Branch police officer Ken Johnson was convicted of murder and felony aggravated assault for killing 16-year-old Jose Cruz and seriously wounding another teen while off-duty. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Cruz and the other teen were stealing a seat out of the officer’s vehicle when Johnson shot them.
Farmers Branch police officer Michael Dunn
In 2019, another Farmers Branch officer, Michael Dunn, was indicted for murder in the on-duty shooting death of 35-year-old Juan “Johnny” Moreno. Moreno was parked in a pickup, which had been reported stolen in Irving, when two officers approached the vehicle. As Moreno pulled away, he was shot and later died at a hospital. That case is pending.
Grand Prairie police officer Blake Hubbard
Grand Prairie police officer Blake Hubbard was found not guilty of murder in August 1997. Hubbard shot and killed Grand Prairie resident Joe Lee Calloway in October 1996. Calloway had a knife and Hubbard said he shot Calloway after the man lunged at another officer. A grand jury later declined to indicted Hubbard on a manslaughter charge at the request of Dallas County prosecutors. Prosecutors said at the time that had the grand jury indicted Hubbard, they would have sough to dismiss the case.
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Dallas police officer Darrell L. Cain
Darrell L. Cain killed 12-year-old Santos Rodriguez while playing Russian roulette with the handcuffed boy in 1973. Cain was sentenced to five years for murder and served half that long. At least 45 years passed before another Dallas police officer, Amber Guyger, was arrested on a murder charge.
Santos was yanked from his home before dawn, shoeless, with his brother, David, for a police interrogation in a squad car. The officer tried to force a confession with his .357 Magnum pointed near Santos’ left ear. Santos denied he’d taken $8 in change from a vending machine. As now-deceased Officer Darrell Cain continued his questions, he pulled the trigger.
David, 13, witnessed Santos’ murder from the back seat of the police car.
“We should never forget this Dallas tragedy,” reads the dedication plaque on the statue of Santos now installed in Dallas’ Pike Park. “We honor the life of Santos Rodriguez.”
Other officers were cleared of wrongdoing
Often officers are cleared of wrongdoing by their departments or grand juries.
A Tarrant County grand jury declined to indict Arlington officer Craig Roper in the shooting death of Tavis Crane, 23, during a traffic stop. Police said Crane ran over an officer but his family disputes the department’s account. In 2019, a civil lawsuit was filed accusing Craig Roper of using excessive force against Crane. The civil case is still pending. As of October, Roper was still with the department.
Earlier this year, ex-Arlington officer Ravinder Singh was acquitted of criminally negligent homicide in the death of Margarita “Maggie” Brooks. Singh said he was aiming at Brooks’ dog, which had charged at the officer, when he shot her in the chest.
In 2019, Arlington officer Bau Tran was indicted for criminally negligent homicide in connection with the fatal shooting of 24-year-old O’Shae Terry who drove away during a traffic stop. That case is still pending.
