Ex-Cop Aaron Dean Sentenced To Almost 12 Years In Prison For Fatally Shooting Atatiana Jefferson

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Black Police Precinct And Courthouse Museum Recalls Miami's Segregated Past
MIAMI - FEBRUARY 02: A judges gavel rests on top of a desk in the courtroom of the newly opened Black Police Precinct and Courthouse Museum February 3, 2009 in Miami, Florida. The museum is located in the only known structure in the nation that was designed, devoted to and operated as a separate station house and municipal court for African-Americans. In September 1944, the first black patrolmen were sworn in as emergency policemen to enforce the law in what was then called the "Central Negro District." The precinct building opened in May 1950 to provide a station house for the black policemen and a courtroom for black judges in which to adjudicate black defendants. The building operated from 1950 until its closing in 1963. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Aaron Dean shot and killed Atatiana Jefferson in 2019 while she was in her home.

In October 2019, 28-year-old Atatiana Jefferson was fatally shot in her Texas home by a police officer. 

Aaron Dean, the former cop responsible for pulling the trigger, was convicted of manslaughter in Jefferson’s death last week and has now been sentenced to close to 12 years behind bars.

To be exact, Dean was given a sentence of “11 years, 10 months and 12 days” according to the Associated Press. He was facing up to 20 years behind bars prior to the sentencing.

Jefferson’s neighbor reached out to a nonemergency number in 2019 and later noted that her door had been left open. At trial, it was revealed that she opened it to clear the air after her 8-year-old nephew Zion burned hamburgers. The pair had been playing video games together on the night of the shooting.

READ MORE: Say Her Name: Remembering Black Women Who Died At The Hands Of Police

According to body camera footage, Dean and another officer didn’t announce that they were the police when they approached the home. With his gun drawn, he shouted at Jefferson to show him her hands and immediately after opened fire through her window, claiming that he saw her pointing a gun in his direction.

Jefferson’s nephew offered testimony in court, saying that his aunt retrieved a gun after thinking that an intruder was near her home.

DALLAS, TX - OCTOBER 24: A mourner pays respects before the start of the funeral service for Atatiana Jefferson on October 24, 2019, at Concord Church in Dallas, Texas. On October 12, 2019 Jefferson was at home with her nephew when Fort Worth police officer Aaron Y. Dean, who was responding to a non-emergency call, fired one shot through a window, killing her. Dean has since resigned from the department and been charged with murder. (Photo by Stewart F. House/Getty Images)

Following Tuesday’s sentencing, Jefferson’s sister Ashley Carr attended a news conference at her sister’s former home. Carr reportedly revealed that she wanted the ex-Forth Worth officer to receive more time. 

“Eleven years, that’s the same age as Zion,” Carr stated. “Ten months, 12 days, that’s the day that it happened. It’s a message in this. It might not be the message that we wanted and the whole dream, but it’s some of it.”

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Jada Ojii
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