3 years later, Aaron Dean's sentencing offers some relief to Atatiana Jefferson's family
FORT WORTH, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) – It's been an agonizing three years for those seeking justice for the 28-year-old woman who's memory they now pledge to keep alive.
The sentence offered some relief to the family of Atatiana Jefferson. They got a conviction, they got a prison term.
But there's one thing Jefferson's family wanted from the Aaron Dean trial they did not get at the end of all this – and that's remorse or an apology from the former police officer.
"He tried to play excuses and come up with a story that didn't fit what we saw," Jefferson's sister Ashley Carr said.
Carr says Dean deserves his 11 year, 10 month and 12 day prison sentence.
Outside the home where Atatiana was killed, the family's attorney says the trial made history in Tarrant County with the first conviction of an on duty officer for the death of a citizen.
"We are hoping that this 12 year sentence will be a deterrent for other police officers going forward that they will think twice before they engage in dangerous, reckless behavior directed at a citizen," said family attorney Lee Merritt.
Those who loved her hope Atatiana's legacy will be more than this historic conviction of a former police officer.
She was studying to be a doctor – a nonprofit created after her death helps provide science programs for kids in neighborhoods like the one she was working so hard to escape from.
A life filled with promise of what could have been, if not for Dean's actions.
"Would we want more time? Yes, yes we would," Carr said. "But that's what the jury decided and we're going to have to take that with us."
The family and their attorney still have a civil lawsuit pending against the City of Fort Worth and they also want federal civil rights charges filed against Aaron Dean.