Aaron Dean Trial: Jurors resume deliberations Thursday morning
FORT WORTH, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) – Jurors in Aaron Dean's murder trial resumed deliberations Thursday morning around 8:30 a.m.
The judge sequestered them overnight after they didn't reach a verdict after nearly eight hours of deliberations Wednesday.
Dean, a former Fort Worth police officer, shot and killed Atatiana Jefferson through a window in October of 2019. He was responding to an open structure call at her house.
"When he approached that front door, he could have knocked and Atatiana would still be alive," said Asistant District Attorney Dale Smith.
Both the state and the defense made closing arguments Wednesday, after five days of witness testimony and evidence.
Dean testified earlier this week that he saw a gun pointed at him before he fired a single, fatal shot.
"He has a right to defend himself," said one of Dean's defense attorneys, Bob Gill.
The prosecution argued Jefferson had rights too.
"You can be in your own home, owning a weapon, owning a gun, and you can protect yourself in your home," said Assistant District Attorney Ashlea Deener. "That's one of the most fundamental rights. That's the reason we all feel safe."
Jurors have to decide if Dean committed murder or was justified to fire in self defense.
"Officers have to make those split-second decisions, and they have to decide like that, if they're being threatened sufficiently to exercise their right to deadly force," Gill told jurors.
The judge also gave them the option to consider manslaughter if they don't think Dean is guilty of murder, or they could aquit him on both counts.
"The tragedy should not be compounded by finding guilty a man who was relying on his rights as a police officer, and his rights under the State of Texas," said Gill.
Both Jefferson and Dean's families, along with their supporters, have been waiting for this verdict for more than three years.
"You know he never saw that gun," Smith said. "He didn't know what he saw. He was hard charging. He was gung ho. He finally got some action."
There has been a noticeable increase in security at the courthouse Wednesday and Thursday, as anticipation builds for the jury's verdict.
