Aaron Dean trial for murder of Atatiana Jeffeson begins

Source: Stewart F. House / Getty

Atatiana Jefferson was a legal gun owner who was trying to protect herself and a young child inside her home when she was gunned down by a piggy-pig-pig named Aaron Dean.

As previously reported, back in 2019 Jefferson was playing video games with her nephew when a neighbor called 911 to report a suspicious open door. When Jefferson heard strange noises from behind her house, she grabbed her pistol for defense. Body camera footage shows that Dean did not identify himself as a police officer before engaging her and ultimately killing her.

Monday, Dean’s trial for Atatiana’s murder began and according to CNN, prosecutors are arguing that he had no idea whether or not she was armed as he could not have seen her firearm.

“This is not a circumstance where they’re staring at the barrel of a gun and he had to defend himself against that person or to protect his partner,” Tarrant County prosecutor Ashlea Deener said. “The evidence will support he did not see the gun in her hand. This is not a justification. This is not a self-defense case. This is murder.”

Defense attorneys argue that Dean and his partner saw a green laser that they supposedly recognized as a firearm and “feared for their lives.” The officers were treating Jefferson’s home like it was the scene of an active robbery without any justification aside from the reported open door.

People leave doors open on purpose and on accident all the time, in this case, her nephew testified that he burned hamburgers on the stove so his relative opened the door to relieve the smoke.

There’s no reason why Jefferson should’ve died over that. Send Aaron Dean straight to prison.