Both the defense and the prosecution rested on Tuesday, the fifth day of the murder trial for Aaron Dean. Dean, a former Fort Worth police officer, allegedly shot and killed a 28-year-old woman, Atatiana Jefferson, inside her home in 2019.
Dean took the stand Monday at his trial, reported NBC DFW, “Because this jury needs to hear from me and hear the truth,” he said.
He told the jury that the home looked ransacked, and he thought there was a burglary in progress. He recalled seeing a silhouette but could not discern whether the person was “black, white, male, or female.”
Dean said he saw Jefferson’s gun a foot away from him before he fired. After she was shot, he said he did not render aid because he did not have his trauma kit. But he saw a child, later identified as Zion Carr, and said he was confused.
“I get to that back bedroom and I see a kid and I think, ‘Who brings a kid to a burglary? What is going on?'” he said.
While being grilled on cross-examination by prosecutor Dale Smith, Dean admitted he did not identify himself as a police officer and said some of his actions, such as lingering in front of a darkened window and the home’s front door, were “bad police work.”
Dean was visibly emotional when watching the body cam footage showing Jefferson’s final moments, where there was audible moaning.
“I know you’re crying now, but you weren’t crying when you decided not to administer CPR to Atatiana,” Smith said.
Dean maintained that he did what he was trained to do and stated that “police work is inherently dangerous.”
On Tuesday, Jay Coons was called by the defense as a use-of-force expert who told the jury he believed Dean showed “good police work” when responding to Jefferson’s home, reported WFAA. He said the observations made by Dean and his partner were “perfectly fine.”
“They didn’t know what they had,” Coons said, a phrase he repeated throughout his time on the witness stand.
“Officer Dean’s actions that night — and yes this is a terrible event, there’s nothing good about this. But his actions as a police officer were reasonable in what he was doing,” Coons said.
Smith attempted to poke holes in Coons’ testimony by saying he was not a neurologist when it came to Dean’s thought process at the time of the shooting.
After Coons’ testimony, which lasted more than three hours, the defense rested, and the court broke for lunch. When the jury returned, the prosecution called Jonathyn Priest, forensic analyst and instructor, as a rebuttal witness.
“My opinion is that they shouldn’t have left the front door,” said Priest, explaining that the officers should have either knocked at the front door or waited for backup.
The defense argued Jefferson’s gun justified Dean’s shooting of Jefferson, while the prosecution alleged he should not have been there at all and Jefferson was acting naturally in response. Following Priest’s testimony, the prosecution rested its case.
The jury will be brought back Wednesday morning to hear closing arguments, the judge said.
