Fort Worth police officer Aaron Dean’s defense team argued again Tuesday that it was impossible for him to get a fair trial in Tarrant County, and his conviction should be thrown out.
Texas’ 2nd Court of Appeals held oral arguments in Dean’s case Tuesday in downtown Fort Worth.
Last year, Dean was sentenced to nearly 12 years in prison for the manslaughter of Atatiana Jefferson. He shot and killed her through her bedroom window in 2019, while he was on duty. The killing gained national attention as Jefferson’s name joined the list of Black Americans killed by police.
On Tuesday, Dean’s attorney, Bob Gill, argued that the media attention biased potential jurors, either consciously or subconsciously.
That scrutiny continues to this day, he said.
“I don’t remember a time where I saw oral arguments in a case make the front page of the Star-Telegram,” Gill said.
Dean’s attorneys have made similar arguments in the past. They tried to get the case moved out of Tarrant County before the trial began, and two separate judges denied them.
Comments from local elected officials condemning Dean’s actions after the killing “quickly turned this case into a racial matter,” Gill said.
The state, represented by Victoria Oblon from the Tarrant County District Attorney's Office, argued there’s no evidence to prove that pre-trial publicity prejudiced potential jurors.
Besides, there were plenty of news events between the killing in 2019 and the trial in 2022 to put this case out of people’s minds, she said.
“We had COVID-19. We had a hotly contested presidential election, and state elections, for that matter,” Oblon said.
Out of the 191 potential jurors for this case, 43% said they had never heard of it, Oblon pointed out, a higher proportion than some other cases.
Jurors aren't always honest, Gill said. They also might know about the case without realizing it, and that subconscious knowledge can influence their decision making, he said, citing testimony from an expert the defense brought in pre-trial.
Justices Dabney Bassel and Brian Walker questioned Gill's conclusion. Judges have to be able to take jurors at their word, Walker said.
"We're not mind readers," he said.
Each side got 20 minutes to present their arguments, with a defense rebuttal afterwards. It's now up to the appeals court to decide the case.
Legal proceedings over Jefferson's killing continue in civil court, too. Last week, the Fort Worth City Council agreed to pay a $3.5 million settlement to benefit Zion Carr, Jefferson's nephew. He was 8 years old when he witnessed his aunt's shooting. The settlement is the largest in the city's history.
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