FORT WORTH, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) – The minutes and actions leading up to the fatal shooting of Atatiana Jefferson were laid out in a murder trial Tuesday, including the complete recording from the body camera of the man who shot her, former police officer Aaron Dean.
Fort Worth Police had released a portion of the video shortly after the shooting in October 2019. The full version continues past the single fatal shot, showing officers entering Jefferson’s home, hearing her cries, and finding a gun on the floor of her bedroom.
Jefferson’s family placed their hands on each other as the video was played. The jury watched attentively, with no noticeable reaction to what they saw and heard.
Officer Carol Darch, who was with the Dean that night, tested the pair handled the call to check on open doors at Jefferson’s house in a “vastly” different manner, than if they were called to check on someone’s welfare.
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From what she could see through the open front door as they approached the house, it appeared to be ransacked, and she believed they may have been interrupting a burglary in progress.
James Smith, who lived across the street and made the call to police to check on the house that night, testified he noticed both the front and side doors were open, with the lights on, at about two in the morning.
He was concerned, so he went to the house and looked in from the driveway, but said he didn’t see or hear anything going on inside. He tested that he didn’t want to scare the home owner, so he went back home and called the non-emergency police line.
“Wasn’t really sure what was going on,” he said. “It didn’t appear to be an emergency.”
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The jurors heard that call, where he said: “Well, the front door’s been open since 10 o’clock. I haven’t seen anybody moving around.”
Under cross examination, the defense asked Smith if he was recalled telling the press after shooting that he didn’t get any closer to the house because he didn’t have a weapon. He said yes.
Smith said he waited on the stoop of his sister’s home for the police to arrive, and saw two silhouettes headed home. He tested he couldn’t tell they were police or if they were wearing badges.
Smith said he didn’t realize they were police, or that Jefferson was killed, until after the shooting.
“It was devastating,” he said.
Abriel Talbert, who answered the call from Smith at the police communications center, said she put it in as a priority two call, based on the information she was given. That priority, attorneys have established, requiring two officers to respond for safety reasons.
Under questioning from prosecutor Ashlea Deener, Darch acknowledged she and Dean did not follow all protocols. They should have secured the open front entrance, and tried to reach the family by phone, but she also said someone would still likely go into the backyard to check the rear of the house.
Dean’s defense team also expanded on a fact first mentioned in their opening Monday, that the gun in Jefferson’s room had a laser attached to it to aid in directing the weapon toward a target. Darch tested he saw Dean turn the laser off when they entered the house and found the gun. Asked if that laser being pointed at her would indicate a threat, she responded that it would.
She also tested certified officers who are trained to meet deadly forces with deadly forces.
In some frames of the body camera video played in court, there are green flashes of light visible, although it’s not clear if it could be due to a reflection through the window or off the camera lens.
Prosecutors have suggested Dean never actually saw Jefferson holding a weapon. In a video interview of Jefferson’s 8-year-old nephew done within hours of the shooting, he told the investigator his aunt had raised the gun toward the window, and that he saw someone with a badge. It contradicted his testimony Monday that he had held the gun at his side, and he never saw anyone outside the window.
Jason Allen
