Posted on 12/15/2022 10:46:49 PM PST by nickcarraway
A former Texas police officer was convicted of manslaughter Thursday for fatally shooting Atatiana Jefferson through a rear window of her home in 2019, a rare conviction of an officer for killing someone who was also armed with a gun.
Jurors also considered a murder charge against Aaron Dean but instead convicted him of manslaughter. The conviction comes more than three years after the white Fort Worth officer shot the 28-year-old Black woman while responding to a call about an open front door.
Dean, 38, faces up to 20 years in prison, with the sentencing phase of his trial set to begin Friday. He had faced up to life in prison if convicted of murder. Dean, who had been free on bond, was booked into the Tarrant County jail following the verdict.
(Excerpt) Read more at kfvs12.com ...
Darch’s back was to the window when Dean shot, but she testified that he never mentioned seeing a gun before he pulled the trigger and didn’t say anything about the weapon as they rushed in to search the house.
Dean acknowledged on the witness stand that he only said something about the gun after seeing it on the floor inside the house and that he never gave Jefferson first aid.
Jefferson’s 8-year-old nephew, Zion Carr, was in the room with his aunt when she was shot. Zion testified that Jefferson took out her gun believing there was an intruder in the backyard, but he offered contradictory accounts of whether she pointed the pistol out the window.
On the trial’s opening day, the now-11-year-old Zion testified that Jefferson always had the gun pointed down, but in an interview that was recorded soon after the shooting and played in court, he said she had pointed the weapon at the window.
This ‘officer’ needs to be *under* the jail. His own bodycam recording shows that he didn’t announce himself, he didn’t knock on the door open for ventilation, nothing. He treated it like a burglary in progress and skulked around the side and back of the house like a burglar (or worse). He was a peace officer in Texas; he should have known what most people would do in this situation - and he did absolutely everything to arouse the suspicions of the homeowner. And then he shot her for doing what anyone here would.
The Satanic Democrat media working overtime to increase racial tensions.
Yup :P
Because the MSM are subversives.
The Satanic Democrat media working overtime to increase racial tensions.
Exactly
Before approaching a house whose occupants may be frightened about intruders on their property, I’m thinking officers should announce their presence by turning on their red/blue lights and giving their siren a two second bleep.
Anyone disagree?
Busy body neighbor should have minded their own business. Called the cops about an open door at a house with lights on.
Everyone hangs out at home in the winter during the middle of the night.
With the front door open. Nothing to see here.
Bad jury decision.
And landed on Connolly’s stretcher without having a mark made in the round.
The bullet hole through the center of the windscreen cinched it for me.
Agreed
My youngest kid has more sense than that
This is an example of why they teach people not to silhouette themselves in a window when investigating a noise.
That’s the current AP/journalist official style guide now. No kidding.
Enjoy prison, jerkoff.
L
You need to read more and watch the full bodycam. The neighbor noticed the door open and essentially requested the police perform a welfare check as he hadn’t seen any of the occupants in some time. When he called it in and again when he was interviewed by the arriving officers, he specifically stated that it wasn’t urgent.
The shooting occurred on October 19 in Fort Worth, Texas. Speaking as a resident of the area, YOU STILL GET HOT DAYS IN OCTOBER. People *do* have their windows and doors open for cooling at that time.
The issue is never the issue. The issue is always The Revolution. With this in mind: never pass up an opportunity to divide, disorganize, and demoralize Americans. That's how you destroy America.
Existing FWPD (and indeed, most local departments’) policy is fine. When performing a welfare check, the officers are to loudly announce themselves when entering the property and continue to do so while traveling through the property.
FYI, with many modern homes, if there are people in the back (where this shooting occurred), they won’t hear a siren or see the lights in front.
Seems like a lot of people end up dead following a police "welfare check".
Kind of the nature of the call, I believe. When you don’t get ‘officers’ like this one blowing reasonable policy and then blowing away homeowners without justification, even legitimate welfare checks can be hazardous. Often people that have dropped out of contact with family or close friends enough that they are worried enough to call in for a welfare check are suffering from mental illness. Some of them will then attack the officers.
Fortunately there are now bodycams that can help exonerate police when this happens. (There are unfortunately more than a few videos posted on the internet where you can watch an officer be attacked for no good reason while performing a welfare check.) Or, as in this Johnson shooting, correctly convict miscreants with badges.
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