Did Aaron Dean see a gun? Attorneys disagree as trial begins for former Fort Worth officer

In opening statements in the trial of a former Fort Worth police officer accused of murder, attorneys disagreed Monday whether Aaron Dean saw Atatiana Jefferson’s gun before he fatally shot her.

Prosecutor Ashlea Deener told jurors in the 396th District Court that Dean never said he saw Jefferson with a gun when he responded to a call in the early morning hours of Oct. 12, 2019. The last words Jefferson heard before Dean’s bullet hit her chest near her heart were “put your hands up, show me your hands.”

“An absolute intentional act, an unjustifiable act that never should have happened,” Deener said.

Deener said this is not a case about a rival gang shooting or a botched drug deal. It is about a woman who was shot by a police officer in her home — a place where she should have been safe.

“She left in a body bag because of what he did,” Deener said.

The prosecution is trying to prove that Dean intentionally or knowingly caused Jefferson’s death and intentionally or knowingly committed an act dangerous to human life when he fired the gun at her, according to the indictment.

Defense attorney Miles Brissette called the shooting “a tragic accident.” He said when Dean arrived at Jefferson’s home he was confronted by a situation he had to deal with — a silhouette of Jefferson in the window holding a gun with a green laser pointed directly at him.

Brissette told the jury that Dean believed deadly force was going to be used against him and he shot Jefferson in self-defense.

“This is about facts, not emotion,” Brissette said.

The state called 11-year-old Zion Carr, Jefferson’s nephew who was with her at the time of the shooting, as the first witness.

Zion, then 8 years old, testified that he and his aunt, who he called “Tay,” had opened the doors at their home on East Allen Avenue to let out smoke after he burned hamburgers he was cooking. They were playing video games in Jefferson’s bedroom at the time of the shooting.

What Jefferson and Zion didn’t know, Deener told the jury, was that neighbor James Smith had called a police non-emergency number because he was concerned about the open doors and that two officers — Dean and Carol Darch — were in their back yard investigating.

According to Zion, his 28-year-old aunt told him she heard noises in the yard. She took a handgun from her purse and walked toward the window. Zion said he was playing on his Nintendo Switch at the time and he doesn’t remember hearing noises himself or seeing police officers outside. He testified Monday that Jefferson did not point the gun, but held it at her side while she was walking to the window.

The attorneys noted that Zion’s testimony was different in some places from what he had told a forensic interviewer immediately after the shooting. According to the defense, in that initial interview Zion mentioned seeing the officer’s badge and seeing Jefferson raise the gun. He had also told the forensic interviewer that his aunt didn’t do what Dean had told her to do.

Prosecutor Dale Smith asked Zion if his testimony Monday was his best recollection of what happened, and he said yes. In response to several defense questions, he said he could not remember the answers.

The attorneys agreed to review Zion’s original forensic interview and redact portions of it to determine whether it will be admitted as evidence.

During Zion’s testimony Judge George Gallagher removed a woman from the courtroom who the judge said was gesturing to Zion.

The judge also called attorney Lee Merritt, who represents the family in civil lawsuits, into the courtroom and told him not to watch the trial because he is on the witness list. Court officials said Merritt had been watching the trial from an adjoining courtroom where there is a video feed.

Defense attorneys also suggested that Merritt might have influenced Zion’s testimony by talking to him about the case.

Dean did not identify himself as an officer and did not give Jefferson enough time to process his commands before firing, the prosecution told the jury. He did not say “gun” as officers are trained to do when they see one, and did not warn his partner that he had seen a gun when they went into the house after the shooting, Deener said.

After the shooting, body-camera video shows Dean search Jefferson’s room and appear relieved to find her gun on the floor, Deener said.

“This was not a circumstance where he was staring down the barrel of a gun and had to defend himself,” Deener said. “This is not a justification. This is not a self-defense case. This is murder.”

Brissette said the officers followed procedure for an open structure call, which is how it was classified by the dispatcher. The information they had was that the doors were open at about 2:30 in the morning, all the lights were on and the family’s cars were in the driveway.

On an open structure call, for their own safety, two officers are supposed to respond and inspect the structure for signs of forced entry while not revealing their position, the defense attorney said.

At the front and side of the house, the glass storm doors were closed but the main doors were open. Through the front door, the officers saw a mess that led them to believe a burglary might be in progress, Brissette said. The kitchen cabinets were open with “stuff strewn on the floor” and the living room “looked like it had been ransacked.”

Brissette also called the area “a rough neighborhood” and noted a steel cage around the air-conditioner next to Jefferson’s bedroom window, saying “things that are left outside at night tend to disappear.”

The defense said that Dean’s actions were reasonable and asked the jury to consider only what the officer knew at the time he shot Jefferson.

Dean’s trial is open to the public, and the courtroom was full. Jefferson’s three siblings and several supporters of her family attended.

A group of about 20 people, some holding signs with Jefferson’s picture, gathered on the corner in front of the courthouse to protest Dean pleading “not guilty.”

“What do we want?” a woman screamed into a megaphone. “Justice!” the protesters roared in response.

The majority of jurors for Dean’s trial are white. None of them are Black, and Cynthia Alkon, professor of law and director of the criminal law, justice and policy program at Texas A&M University School of Law, said the racial makeup of a jury matters.

“It does impact jury decision making,” she said.

According to Alkon, a person’s race is a piece of the life experience they bring into the courtroom and a factor that could affect the verdict in a case in which a white officer killed a Black woman.

“The issue here is how they are going to consider the issue of self-defense,” she said in relation to the Dean trial, adding that their personal life experiences are going to play a part in that.

The trial will resume at 9 a.m. Tuesday.