FORT WORTH, Texas — Atatiana Jefferson’s family waited three years for justice in her slaying, but they said the justice rendered fell short.
Aaron Dean, the former Fort Worth officer convicted of manslaughter for fatally shooting Jefferson in 2019, was sentenced Tuesday to nearly 12 years in prison. The decision marked an end to a long-awaited trial in a killing that spurred a conversation about race and policing in a precursor to the nationwide social justice protests the following summer.
Dean was sentenced to 11 years, 10 months and 12 days in prison. The Tarrant County jury didn’t say how it reached the sentence, but Jefferson’s loved ones believe it referenced the age of Jefferson’s 11-year-old nephew, Zion, who was with her when Dean killed her, as well as the date it happened: Oct. 12, 2019.
