Day 9: Aaron Dean Jury Sequestered, Sentencing Deliberations Continue Tuesday

A jury deciding the sentence for Aaron Dean, the former Fort Worth police officer found guilty of manslaughter in the 2019 shooting death of Atatiana Jefferson last week, deliberated for more than seven hours Monday and will meet again Tuesday.

Dean, 38, faces up to 20 years in prison, which is what prosecutors requested during closing arguments in the sentencing phase. But jurors also have the option of sentencing him to probation, which is what the defense asked jurors to give him.

The same jury that convicted him of manslaughter Thursday is also determining his sentence.

Jurors started deliberating Dean’s sentencing at about 10 a.m. Monday and left the courthouse around 5:30 p.m. They will be sequestered and begin deliberating again Tuesday.

Closing arguments in the punishment phase of the trial were heard Monday morning with Tarrant County prosecutor Ashlea Deener explaining to the jury the importance of Jefferson's life and addressing her nephew Zion Carr's future.

“Her life is worth more than a probation sentence,” Deener said. "Anything less is a travesty of justice."

The defense began by claiming the Dean family had been receiving death threats, including some by a man named Manuel Mata who was arrested and escorted out of the courtroom Friday afternoon.

On Monday afternoon, jurors asked to see the body cam video again and for a copy of the police department's general orders -- essentially the rule book that officers go by, but appeared no closer to a decision when after seven hours no sentence had been decided.

After 5 p.m. the jury was retired for the night and sequestered until resuming deliberations Tuesday morning.

Deener also questioned why more officers didn’t testify about Dean's character.

Dean’s defense team began arguments by telling jurors this is a probation case, asking them to leave emotion out of their decision.

"He’s a God-fearing, law-abiding citizen of our county," attorney Bob Gill said of Dean. “There’s nothing to gain by sending this man to the penitentiary.”

Deliberations will resume Tuesday morning.

The white Fort Worth officer shot the 28-year-old Black woman while responding to a call about an open front door. His guilty verdict was a rare conviction of an officer for killing someone who was also armed with a gun.

During the trial, the primary dispute was whether Dean knew Jefferson was armed. Dean testified that he saw her weapon; prosecutors claimed the evidence showed otherwise.

Dean shot Jefferson on Oct. 12, 2019, after a neighbor called a nonemergency police line to report that the front door to Jefferson’s home was open. She had been playing video games that night with her 8-year-old nephew and it emerged at trial that they left the doors open to vent smoke from hamburgers the boy burnt.

FAMILY, EXPERTS TESTIFY FRIDAY IN SENTENCING HEARING

On Friday prosecutors called psychologist Kyle Clayton to the stand who testified that Dean failed his first psychological exam when he applied to the police department.

"My conclusion was that he was not psychologically suitable to serve as a police officer," Clayton testified. "The results suggested he had a narcissistic personality style that would inhibit his judgment, decision making."

Dean was eventually hired, but only after he appealed the initial exam results.

Defense attorneys called Dean's mother Donna, sister Alyssa and church friends to testify about his character. They all said Dean would follow every rule if the jury sentenced him to probation, which is what his attorneys are asking for in lieu of a prison sentence.

"He told us he wanted to do it to make a difference in people's lives and help people," Donna said when asked why Dean wanted to become a police officer.

Prosecutors called on Elizabeth Turner to testify. She said Dean touched her breast years ago when they were students at the University of Texas at Arlington and that he asked her not to report it after she said it made her uncomfortable.

"He took his finger and touched my right breast and traced the outline of the breast with his hand, so touching my body over my hoodie I was wearing," Turner said. "I was deeply upset. I was taken aback. I told him immediately he was making me uncomfortable."

Dean was cited for simple assault in the case and received a citation after pleading no contest.

Jefferson's older brother, Adarius Carr, described his sister as his best friend, said her interest in medicine came from being diagnosed with diabetes and said he was always envious of how smart she was.

Carr said his sister had moved into their mother's home to take care of her nephew Zion after both their mother and sister had been hospitalized for unrelated illnesses.

"I got a call from my big sister Ashley. I knew mom was in the hospital, Amber was in the hospital, so I figured it was a call about one of them. She answered the phone and just told me up front, 'I don't know how to tell you this but Tay is gone.'"

Carr, who is in the Navy and was expecting a child at the time, took emergency leave and booked a trip home to Texas to be with his family. He told the jury the last time he saw his sister was when his family came to visit him in San Diego and they spent a week together touring the Navy base and enjoying Southern California.

"That was the last time I saw my sister," Carr said.

Dean, who had been charged with murder, faces between 2 and 20 years in prison for the conviction on the lesser charge of manslaughter. Had the jury found him guilty of murder, he'd have faced up to life in prison. Dean's attorneys are asking for probation.