FORT WORTH, Texas — The murder trial for a former Fort Worth police officer who shot and killed Atatiana Jefferson, a Black woman who was baby-sitting her nephew at her mother’s home, in 2019 will be delayed again, frustrating those who have sought justice for Jefferson.
Defense lawyers for Aaron Dean, the former officer who is out of jail on bail, argued successfully Monday for the fourth delay in about eight months. Dean was set to stand trial next week.
A new trial date was not set. Several other issues will have to be worked out before the trial can be rescheduled, State District Judge George Gallagher said.
It’s been almost three years since Dean killed Jefferson, 28, in October 2019 when he responded to a call from a neighbor saying the front door was open. Dean walked around Jefferson’s house and entered the fenced yard without announcing his presence and identifying himself as law enforcement. Dean turned to face a window and yelled at Jefferson, who was inside, to put up her hands, and he fired a single shot in a matter of seconds.
The shooting sparked protests in Fort Worth and calls for police reform. Then-Interim Police Chief Ed Kraus said Dean resigned before he had a chance to fire him. Kraus said Dean’s record would reflect a dishonorable discharge.
“The court recognizes that the community is very interested in a trial in the Dean case and I don’t want to delay this anymore than anyone else,” Gallagher said.
Gallagher, who is not the judge who presided over earlier proceedings in the case, held a hearing on the Dean case during a break in a capital murder trial he is overseeing this week. That case is a year older, Gallagher noted.
“So it’s just, we’re having to get things off the ground,” Gallagher said. Criminal courts across the country are playing catchup on cases that were stalled during the coronavirus pandemic.
Attorneys Miles Brissette and Bob Gill presented Gallagher with several other cases they’re working on that they argued should get trials before Dean because they’re older. Some of the people accused in those cases are still in jail, whereas Dean is free, they pointed out.
Gallagher agreed and scheduled one of the cases for next week, when Dean was previously expected to go to trial.
Dean’s lawyers are also seeking to have their assigned judge, State District Judge David Hagerman, recused. They filed a motion late Friday arguing Hagerman has acted “increasingly hostile, overbearing and rude” to them.
In May, Hagerman denied their request to move the trial out of Tarrant County, but he allowed them more time to prepare for trial in light of their lead lawyer, Jim Lane, falling seriously ill.
The recusal will be decided by State District Judge David Evans, who serves as an administrative judge for the region that includes Fort Worth. Evans indicated to Gallagher that he would have a hearing on the recusal no sooner than the last week of June, which is after Dean’s trial was slated to start.
A gag order prohibits anyone involved in the case from speaking publicly about it.
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