The former officer was found guilty of manslaughter for fatally shooting 28-year-old Black woman Atatiana Jefferson at her Texas home.
A former police officer in the state of Texas, in the southern United States, was sentenced to nearly 12 years in prison for the crime of shoot dead people Atatiana Jefferson, a Black woman, through the back window of her home in 2019 after breaking into her property without warning.
On Tuesday, a jury sentenced Aaron Dean, 38, to 11 years and 10 months in prison after convicting Dean of manslaughter last Thursday. He has faced a possible sentence of up to 20 years in prison.
“Today’s guilty verdict is a small step toward bringing justice to Atatiana Jefferson and her family,” U.S. Congressman Marc Veasey, who represents a Texas district, said in a statement following the release. judgment last week.
“This ruling highlights the important work that needs to be done locally and nationally to ensure a tragedy like this does not happen again.”
Today’s sentencing of Aaron Dean is another step towards justice and accountability in the murder of Atatiana Jefferson. We must continue to commit to making sensible reforms to prevent tragedies like this from happening to communities of color again. https://t.co/UsxhMkizRT
– Congressman Marc Veasey (@RepVeasey) December 20, 2022
When murder police of the unarmed in the United States has attracted considerable attention in recent years and prompted mass protests, the Texas trial resulted in a rare conviction for a police officer for killing someone who also had a gun.
Dean, a Fort Worth, Texas police officer at the time of the incident, shot and killed Jefferson, 28, after a neighbor called non-emergency police to report that the front door of the home. Jefferson’s is open.
Jefferson was playing video games with her eight-year-old grandson and had opened the door to let out smoke from cooking a hamburger.
The trial revolved around whether Dean knew that Jefferson was armed.
Jefferson pulled a gun out of his wallet and aimed it at his bedroom window after hearing the noise. Dean and colleague Carol Darch were unidentified when they arrived at the home and Dean, suspecting a burglary, moved into a fenced backyard with a gun drawn.
Body-camera footage shows him shouting at Jefferson, who was inside, to show her his hand, then shooting her a split second later.
Dean claims that he saw Jefferson’s weapon, but prosecutors insist that the evidence suggests otherwise.
Darch had his back to the window when Dean shot, but she testified that he never mentioned seeing a gun before pulling the trigger and didn’t say anything about a weapon when they rushed into the examination room. review the house.
Dean testified that he had no choice but to shoot Jefferson because she was pointing a gun at him, but admitted to numerous flaws and “bad police work” in court. He also admitted that he didn’t mention the gun and that he never gave Jefferson first aid.
The Fort Worth Police Department, where Dean works, quickly released footage of the shooting and arrest of Dean following a wave of public outrage.
The police shooting death still persists and controversial issues in the US, sparking protests and repeatedly calling for serious policy reform.
The police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 2020 has sparked protests around the world demanding an end to police violence and racism.
Former officer Derek Chauvin, who put his knee on Floyd’s neck for more than 9 minutes during the deadly incident, is sentenced for more than 22 years went to prison last year after being found guilty of unarmed 46-year-old murder.
Other officers involved in Floyd’s death have also received prison sentence different lengths because of Floyd’s civil rights violation.
The shooting of Jefferson took place seven months before Floyd was killed.
