FORT WORTH, Texas — Attorneys for Aaron Dean, a former Fort Worth police officer who was found guilty of manslaughter in December, has filed a motion for a new trial.
Dean was sentenced to 11 years, 10 months and 12 days for fatally shooting Atatiana Jefferson in her home in October 2019. The motion filed Tuesday does not provide details on attorney Bob Gill’s argument for a new trial, saying simply, “The Defendant in this case should be granted a new trial in this case because the verdict is contrary to the law and the evidence.”
The motion was filed in Tarrant County’s 396th District Court, asking Judge George Gallagher to set a hearing on the issue.
On Jan. 12, Gallagher approved a motion from Dean’s attorneys to investigate the jury that convicted Dean. Dean’s attorneys say they found a social media post by someone claiming to be one of the jurors. The post solicited opinions and information during the course of the trial. A copy of the post was given to the court while the jury was in deliberation during the punishment phase of the case.
Dean’s attorneys, in a bid to seek a new trial, have been granted copies of the jurors’ contact information to conduct interviews and an investigation. If there’s proof that a juror did ask in a social media post for opinions and received information, Dean’s attorneys could argue that swayed the outcome of the trial and be granted a new one.
Dean was convicted of fatally shooting Jefferson, a 28-year-old Black woman, while responding to a concerned neighbor’s call about doors that were open at her family’s home on East Allen Avenue on Oct. 12, 2019. Jefferson and her 8-year-old nephew were playing video games in her room when she heard noises in the back yard, got a handgun from her purse and looked out the window, her nephew Zion Carr testified. Dean, who did not identify himself as an officer, shot Jefferson through the window.
Dean’s attorneys argued he acted in self-defense. Prosecutors argued that Dean never said he saw a gun until he found the weapon after he shot Jefferson.
Jurors did not state a reason for the specific length of the sentence they gave Dean, but attorneys and others who observed the trial thought the 10 months and 12 days likely were tied to the date of the shooting.
The defense attorneys also have filed notice that they will appeal the verdict in Texas’ Second Court of Appeals in Fort Worth.
Dean, 38, is imprisoned at the W.F. Ramsey Unit in Rosharon. He will be eligible for parole on Nov. 18, 2028, after serving half his sentence. If he served the full sentence, he’d be released on Oct. 25, 2034.
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