Former Texas officer sentenced to nearly 12 years in prison for the killing of Atatiana Jefferson

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Aaron Dean, the former Texas police officer who was convicted of manslaughter in the 2019 killing of Atatiana Jefferson, has been sentenced to 11 years, 10 months and 12 days in prison.

Aaron Dean Sentenced for Atatiana Jefferson’s murder

The ex-officer was sentenced by a Tarrant County jury on Tuesday, Dec. 20, less than a week after Dean was found guilty of manslaughter on Dec. 15.

Dean was initially indicted on a murder charge, but before the jury began deliberations, the judge in the case told them they could consider a manslaughter verdict, which in Texas carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

What happened?

The sentence comes more than three years after the fatal encounter in which Dean and his partner responded to Jefferson’s house around 2:25 a.m. on October 12, 2019. They arrived at her house after a neighbor called a non-emergency police line to report that her doors were open. They did not announce themselves as police at the home, and Dean then fatally shot through a bedroom window at Jefferson, who had been playing video games with her nephew, who was 8.

Dean will be eligible for parole after serving half that sentence. If he decides to appeal the conviction, he will have to remain in prison through that process.