Three years later, now-former Fort Worth police officer Aaron Dean stands trial over killing Atatiana Jefferson in her home. Watch the proceedings live here.
FORT WORTH, Texas — More than three years after now-former Fort Worth police officer Aaron Dean killed 28-year-old Atatiana Jefferson in her home, a jury has finally been seated — and, seemingly countless continuances later, the trial in the case is finally set to begin on Monday, December 5.
The high-profile story of Jefferson’s death gained national attention and spurred protests against police brutality across the region. In turn, the long-anticipated trial is among the most high-profile court cases seen in North Texas in years.
WFAA will stream the trial on multiple platforms — including WFAA+, YouTube and wfaa.com. (WFAA+ is available on Roku and Amazon Fire.)
The stream can also be watched at the top of this story and also in the below embed.
As has been true of all the proceedings leading up to the trial kicking off, opening day arrives with something of a curveball. Court will only be in session for half a day. Jim Lane, a longtime Tarrant County lawyer working as Dean’s lead defense attorney, died last Sunday, Nov. 27, after sources told WFAA he fell and injured himself a week before Thanksgiving.
Lane’s funeral is set for 2 p.m. on Monday, and Judge George Gallagher, who is proceeding over the trial, has agreed to grant a recess to the court in order for Lane’s former colleagues to attend that event.
Prior to opening statements being shared by the prosecution and the defense, Gallagher has also agreed to hear final pre-trial motions in the case before it officially kicks off. Starting at 8:30 a.m., the defense — one last time — argued that slanted local media coverage of the trial would make it impossible for Dean to get a fair trial. Gallagher, however, denied that motion for a change of venue, while allowing the defense to have a running objection to that decision throughout the trial.
Shortly after 9:10 a.m., the jury was finally brought into the courtroom, allowing the trial to officially begin.
We will provide live, timestamped updates to the proceedings below.
Opening day timeline of the Aaron Dean trial
9:10 a.m.: Following judge Gallagher’s denial of the defense’s last change-of-venue motion, in which attorneys argued that local media coverage of the case made it impossible for Dean to get a fair trial in Tarrant county, the defense team waived its option to provide an opening statement in the case, asking that they be afforded the extra time they’d receive for such an argument for their closing statements instead. The judge granted that request — and, finally, the jury has been seated in the case. (Worth noting: While the jury in this case is not devoid of minorities, no Black jurors were selected.)
9:20 a.m.: Opening statements are beginning. Prosecutors are laying out their case.