Jury deliberates fate of Texas cop who killed Atatiana Jefferson

The case of a Texas police officer who fatally shot a Black woman in her home in 2019 has headed a jury.

Aaron Dean, 38, was charged with murder in the killing of Atatiana Jefferson, 28, though a judge told jurors Wednesday that they can also consider a manslaughter charge.

Dean was called to Jefferson’s home Oct. 12, 2019, on a nonemergency report about an open front door. At trial, Jefferson’s now-11-year-old nephew revealed that she’d opened the door because the residence had filled with smoke after he burned hamburgers earlier in the night.

When Dean and his partner arrived, they went to the back of the house. Dean testified that based on the open door, the lit rooms and items on the floor, he believed there was a burglary in progress.

Prosecutors said that after cops arrived, Jefferson got the sense someone was outside and grabbed her own gun. However, they argued that she never pointed it at Dean and said he fatally shot Jefferson through a back window without reason.

“He didn’t know what he saw, he just shot,” prosecutor Dale Smith said.

Dean testified that when he peeked through the window and saw Jefferson, he was staring down a gun barrel, and he responded by opening fire.

“He saw a firearm pointed at him and based upon his training, he reacted,” defense attorney Bob Gill said.

The killing garnered national attention, but the trial was postponed for years because of the COVID pandemic and a different illness contracted by Dean’s lead attorney.

With News Wire Services