The former Texas police officer who was convicted final week within the 2019 deadly taking pictures of 28-year-old Atatiana Jefferson was sentenced to almost 11 years and 10 months in jail on Tuesday.
Aaron Dean, a white Fort Worth officer who shot Jefferson by means of the window of her house whereas responding to a name from a neighbor about an open entrance door on Oct. 12, 2019, was convicted by a jury of manslaughter final week.
The jury’s choice was a uncommon conviction of an officer who shot and killed somebody whereas they have been additionally armed. Much of Dean’s trial centered round whether or not he knew when he shot Jefferson, a Black girl, that she had a gun.
Jefferson’s nephew Zion Carr, 8 on the time of the taking pictures, who was current and enjoying video video games when she was shot, testified his aunt grabbed a gun when she heard noises exterior. He stated that they had left the door open to air out the home after burning hamburgers. Dean’s former accomplice, Carol Darch, stated she did not see Jefferson’s gun and did not hear Dean say he noticed a gun.
Dean testified he fired in response to seeing Jefferson’s weapon: “We’re taught to meet deadly force with deadly force,” he stated. “We’re not taught that we have to wait.”
Body digital camera footage launched swiftly after the taking pictures confirmed Dean and his accomplice didn’t announce themselves as police when approaching the home. During testimony, Dean acknowledged he made errors and had finished “bad police work” main as much as the taking pictures.
Dean confronted as much as 20 years in jail, and the jury additionally had the choice of sentencing him to probation.
Jefferson’s sister Ashley Carr learn an announcement on behalf of herself and Amber Carr, one other of Jefferson’s sisters.
“(Jefferson) was in her home, which should have been the safest place for her to be, and yet turned out to be the most dangerous,” Ashley Carr stated.
She added that Zion Carr, now 11, “feels he is responsible to fill the whole role of his aunt, and he has the weight of the world on his shoulders.”
Contributing: N’dea Yancey-Bragg, USA TODAY; The Associated Press
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