Jury Ignores Ex-Cop’s Plea to Avoid Jail for Killing Atatiana Jefferson
Aaron Dean, the Texas cop who fatally shot Atatiana Jefferson during a welfare check gone awry, was sentenced to just under 12 years in state prison on Monday.
Dean’s sentence is more than eight years below the sentence prosecutors had pushed for after Dean was convicted of manslaughter last week, but it’s significantly more severe than probation—the punishment his defense had lobbied for this week.
Dean was initially charged with murder, but a jury, which featured no Black jurors, determined Thursday that the killing was an act of manslaughter. Dean’s sentencing hearing began immediately after, and ended Tuesday afternoon.