A trial date has been set for former Fort Worth police officer Aaron Dean, who is charged with the murder of Atatiana Jefferson.
On Tuesday morning, Judge David Hagerman scheduled the trial for Jan. 10, 2022. Jury selection will begin six days prior.
Jefferson, 28, was shot in her home last year while playing video games with her nephew.
Officers showed up at Jefferson’s house around 2:25 a.m. after a concerned neighbor noticed her doors were open in the middle of the night. The neighbor told authorities that he was worried because he was aware that Jefferson was at home with her 8-year-old nephew. Fifteen minutes after he placed the call, he said that officers charged into Jefferson’s home.
Upon entering, Dean claimed he saw a figure through a dark window and moved his body to the left. He then shouts through the window with his gun drawn before firing a single shot through the window into the dark room. Jefferson died at the scene.
An arrest warrant affirmed three times that Dean did not announce that he was a police officer when he walked around the house.
The trial has been delayed due to the pandemic.
Dean, now 37, resigned from the city police force two days after shooting Jefferson. He was charged with murder and released on a $200,000 bond.
Last November, Jefferson’s family filed a lawsuit against Dean and the city of Fort Worth.
The complaint accuses the city and the former officer of being “deliberately indifferent to protecting Atatiana Carr a/k/a Atatiana Jefferson from harm by systematically failing to provide adequate training and supervision to its officers, uphold Atatiana Carr a/k/a Atatiana Jefferson’s constitutional rights, and providing urgently needed medical care.
“Defendants acted with high disregard for the rights of others, and their conduct was extreme and unreasonable under the circumstances,” it reads.
