Judge grants Aaron Dean defense motion to investigate possible jury misconduct
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Murder Trial of Aaron Dean
The case against Aaron Dean in the shooting of Atatiana Jefferson finally began to unfold Nov. 28, 2022, with jury selection. Dean was sentenced to more than 11 years in prison Dec. 20 after he was convicted of manslaughter. Read the trial coverage here.
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The defense attorneys for former Fort Worth police officer Aaron Dean have been approved to investigate the jury that in December found him guilty of manslaughter in the death of Atatiana Jefferson.
Dean was sentenced by the jury to 11 years, 10 months and 12 days in prison.
In a motion filed with the trial court and approved by the judge on Thursday, lawyers for Dean say they found a social media post claiming to be written by one of the jurors, which solicited opinions and information during the course of the trial. A copy of the post was given to the court while the jury was in deliberation during the punishment phase of the case.
Dean’s attorneys, in a bid to seek a new trial, have been granted copies of the jurors’ contact information to conduct interviews and an investigation. If there’s proof that a juror did ask in a social media post for opinions and received information, Dean’s attorneys could argue that swayed the outcome of the trial and be granted a new one.
The order granting the request for an investigation and copies of juror contact information was signed by Tarrant County 396th District Court Judge George Gallagher. In the document, defense attorneys are also ordered to destroy any copies of juror contact information at the end of their investigation.
A spokesperson for the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Office said the office is aware of the accusations and that “the claim was handled by the presiding judge.”
Dean was convicted of fatally shooting Jefferson, a 28-year-old Black woman, while responding to a concerned neighbor’s call about doors that were open at her family’s home on East Allen Avenue on Oct. 12, 2019. Jefferson and her 8-year-old nephew were playing video games in her room when she heard noises in the back yard, got a handgun from her purse and looked out the window, her nephew Zion Carr testified. Dean, who did not identify himself as an officer, shot Jefferson through the window.
Dean’s attorneys argued he acted in self-defense. Prosecutors argued that Dean never said he saw a gun until he found the weapon after he shot Jefferson.
Jurors did not state a reason for the specific length of the sentence they gave Dean, but attorneys and others who observed the trial thought the 10 months and 12 days likely were tied to the date of the shooting.
Dean’s attorneys wrote in their motion that they also want “to investigate whether the jurors arrived at their unusual verdict by numerical multiplication and/ or division rather than a full, fair and free exercise of the individual opinions of the jurors.”
The defense attorneys also have filed notice that they will appeal the verdict in Texas’ Second Court of Appeals in Fort Worth.
Dean, 38, is imprisoned at the W.F. Ramsey Unit in Rosharon. He will be eligible for parole on Nov. 18, 2028, after serving half his sentence. If he served the full sentence, he’d be released on Oct. 25, 2034.
This story was originally published January 6, 2023 at 2:33 PM.
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