Ex-Fort Worth officer charged with murder seeks camera recordings of downtown streets
Attorneys for a former Fort Worth police officer charged with murder in the death of Atatiana Jefferson in 2019 have subpoenaed city street camera recordings that show parts of downtown over a three and a half hour-period earlier this month.
The attorneys representing Aaron Dean last week sought Fort Worth Police Department Real Time Crime Center camera video from 3 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. on March 12.
The subpoena seeks images from cameras that cover Main Street from the 1895 Courthouse to West Fourth Street; Weatherford Street from Calhoun Street to North Cherry Street; Belknap Street from Calhoun Street to North Cherry Street; Taylor Street from West Bluff Street to Second Street; First Street from Houston Street to South Jones Street; Second Street from Houston Street to South Jones Street; and Third Street from Houston Street to South Jones Street.
It is not clear what the recordings show or why Dean’s attorneys sought them. State District Judge David Hagerman has issued a gag order directing the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Office and Dean’s attorneys not to furnish information on the case outside of court.
Dean is accused of shooting Jefferson to death on Oct. 12, 2019, in Fort Worth. Jefferson died as she was babysitting her 8-year-old nephew at her mother’s house in the 1200 block of East Allen Avenue.
A neighbor telephoned the police because he was worried after seeing open doors at the residence, and Dean and another officer responded to the call. Jefferson, who was 28 and Black, heard noise outside and thought a prowler was in the yard. She held a gun and looked through a bedroom window as Dean fired once from outside, killing her, according to an account from the nephew that is described in an affidavit supporting an arrest warrant for the former officer. Dean is 35 and white.
Dean was in 297th District Court for a brief hearing on Wednesday morning, during which Hagerman granted additional time for motions to be filed in the case.
Hagerman permitted only defendants and their attorneys to be in the courtroom because of COVID-19 measures that call for social distancing in the court gallery. The judge handled 19 cases between about 8:30 and 10 a.m. The Dean hearing and the cases of other defendants were broadcast live via video online. Jefferson’s relatives and friends stood outside the closed courtroom door and watched the video feed on cellphones.
Dean and Fort Worth police officers on bicycles who gathered near him were taunted after the hearing as Dean waited outside the courthouse for a vehicle to pick him up.
Hagerman in October set a tentative window for Dean’s trial. The judge said that although scheduling in the case may change, the trial will likely be held in August.
This story was originally published March 24, 2021 at 1:09 PM.
