Aaron Dean's manslaughter appeal will not be heard by Supreme Court
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Aaron Dean trial: Former Fort Worth police officer sentenced to 11 years, 12 months, 10 days in prison
Aaron Dean showed little emotion as the verdict was read in court, but the emotion overflowed from members of Atatiana Jefferson’s family, giving statements immediately after it was read.
FORT WORTH, Texas - The Supreme Court will not hear an appeal by former Fort Worth police officer Aaron Dean, who was convicted of manslaughter in the shooting of Atatiana Jefferson.
Dean shot and killed Jefferson through the window of her mother's home in 2019 after a neighbor called a non-emergency line.
Aaron Dean
A Tarrant County jury found Dean guilty of manslaughter in 2022. The former police officer was sentenced to nearly 12 years in prison.
Dean was originally charged with murder and his legal team has argued that prosecutors should not have been allowed to consider the lesser charge of manslaughter.
An appeals court previously upheld Dean's manslaughter conviction.
Atatiana Jefferson Shooting Timeline
The case made national news after the shooting on Oct. 12, 2019.
A neighbor made a non-emergency call to police because a door was open with lights on.
Officer Dean arrived, walked into the backyard and saw Jefferson in a window with her gun in her hand. Dean yelled, "put your hands up! Let me see your hands!" before immediately firing a single shot, killing Jefferson.
Atatiana Jefferson
Dean's team argued that the home looked like a crime had been committed.
It later came out that Jefferson and her nephew had opened the door because they had burned hamburgers.
Jefferson's nephew, Zion Carr, testified that she had a gun in her hand because she believed Dean was an intruder.
The shooting led to protests against the Fort Worth Police Department.