The manslaughter conviction of Aaron Dean in the killing of Atatiana Jefferson, like any compromise, will leave many unsatisfied.
Immediately after the October 2019 tragedy in which Dean, then a Fort Worth police officer, shot Jefferson in her own home, the circumstances seemed so egregious that only a murder conviction could bring a measure of justice to Jefferson’s family and the community.
But murder is a high bar, as it should be. The case was weighed down by Texas’ robust self-defense laws, jurors’ deference to police officers’ judgment in split-second decisions and a less-than-stellar presentation by the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office in the trial.
The three-year odyssey of the case was a factor, too. And while many will feel betrayed by a verdict that could mean little prison time for Dean, it is an important step toward greater police accountability — particularly given the challenges of getting any conviction at all.
As difficult as it will be for some, maintaining faith in our jury system requires accepting verdicts one doesn’t agree with. Dean’s defense raised significant questions about whether his actions, even if disastrous, rose to the level of a crime. Protest may be understandable, but violence and destruction is not.
Leaders and citizens alike must now reckon with the failures of this case and the urgent need to address its underlying issues.
Prosecutors put on a case that felt rushed and lacking. On the trial’s first day, they did not adequately address a key discrepancy brought up in the testimony of Jefferson’s nephew, Zion Carr, the only witness to the shooting inside the house. Zion told police at the time that Jefferson raised her gun, but he testified in court that she held it at her side
And the jury could have heard so much more. Where were Fort Worth police training experts to talk about Dean’s errors in approaching the scene? Where was former Police Chief Ed Kraus, who was so forthright in the days following the shooting about all that had gone wrong? Where was former Mayor Betsy Price to talk about Fort Worth police use of deadly force?
Where were Dean’s colleagues to describe the “gung-ho” attitude that the assistant DAs said he brought to the job and particularly that night? Where was the video of Dean, interviewing for his police job two-and-a-half years before the shooting, seeming cavalier about the idea of using deadly force?
The most effective moments came in the cross-examination of Dean, when prosecutor Dale Smith peppered him with questions about his actions and decisions, repeatedly asking: Was that good police work? Dean frequently had to admit that it was not.
Smith’s closing statement provided the best counter to the self-defense argument, particularly when he reminded that Dean never warned his partner of a gun, even as they entered the house after the shooting.
The District Attorney’s Office has a tough task in cases involving officers. The lawyers must work with police to win cases but also, in circumstances such as this, second-guess and even prosecute them. Plus, many jurors will inherently side with police or at least give them the initial benefit of the doubt.
We need answers, though, about the handling of the case, including how a city and county that are nearly one-fifth Black ended up with no African American jurors on the panel.
Over three long years since Dean shot Jefferson, the country went through lurching debates about policing and race. The facts of the case never changed, but the perception of it may have.
Rarely mentioned now, part of the reason the case roiled Fort Worth is that it followed a summer pocked by police shootings of citizens. Within a few months, the country was trapped in the pandemic and soon, the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis officer sparked widespread protests of law enforcement and racial injustice.
But activists overreached, and the debate over “defund the police,” along with rising crime in cities, drove a backlash. By the time the jury in Dean’s case was seated, pro-police sentiment was on the upswing.
Second Amendment activists should be troubled by Thursday’s outcome. The most compelling arguments for gun rights involve the inherent right to protect yourself, your family and your property. That’s what Jefferson did, and it cost her her life. Gun-rights advocates often highlight incidents in which weapons are brandished or used in self-defense, and the fact that few weighed in on behalf of Jefferson’s rights in her own home remains troubling.
Defense attorney Bob Gill said in his closing argument Tuesday that her rights ended when she pointed the gun at an officer, if she in fact did so. Whether that’s correct and just, it’s reality: Police will respond to that situation with deadly force. Their training demands it.
So, we have a conflict in the law, and if police don’t follow their training perfectly, it spawns tragedies such as the Jefferson shooting. Can we resolve the tension? What lesson will people draw about the danger of calling police for help?
Our community will express grief and frustration again, and it’s righteous and justified. Black Fort Worthians in particular have a right to ask, as prosecutor Ashlea Deener said: If we aren’t safe in our own homes, where are we safe?
In many fraught circumstances, we’re only as safe as police allow us to be. Mercifully, few of us will ever encounter an Aaron Dean. But we all must live with some level of fear that we will.
