Potential jurors questioned for Aaron Dean's murder trial
FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) — Potential jurors packed the hallway outside the 396th District Court in downtown Fort Worth Wednesday, waiting for their turn to be questioned individually about how much they knew about the 2019 shooting death of Atatiana Jefferson.
Sometimes after hours of waiting, they entered the court room only to be dismissed in under a minute, telling the judge they'd already made their mind up about the guilt or innocence of former police officer Aaron Dean.
The others faced direct questions from attorneys, and will return Thursday, joining another large group who have said they were unaware of the high-profile incident until they were called in for jury duty.
Judge George Gallagher asked each potential juror the same first question Wednesday, whether they had established a conclusion on guilt or innocence that would influence finding a verdict.
More than a dozen of the first 60 people indicated they had. Others were quickly dismissed because of childcare issues, travel plans, or difficulty speaking or understanding English.
The rest were asked to explain what they knew about the case and where they heard it.
Three years appeared to have made memories of the facts somewhat fuzzy. Many remembered hearing about the shooting in October of 2019, only to have to have it fade and be reminded of it as recently as Sunday, by news reports of the death of Dean's former lead attorney Jim Lane.
Some potential jurors appeared to mix up facts with other officer involved shootings, saying they thought the officer went to the wrong apartment, which was the Botham Jean case in Dallas. Or they thought the victim was in bed, and maybe with her boyfriend, which was the Breonna Taylor case in Kentucky.
Dean's defense team of Bob Gill and Miles Brissette often probed further to ask potential jurors if they could separate the facts of this case, from other incidents nationally, as well as remove emotion and race from their decision making.
When prosecutors Dale Smith and Ashlea Deener took more of an interest in a juror, their line of questions rested heavily on the juror being able to set aside what they'd heard in the news, do the right thing and not find an innocent person guilty.
Jury selection is scheduled to continue Thursday, with the goal of seating a jury before the end of the week. Dean's defense team still has a pending motion to move the trial somewhere else, which Gallagher is waiting to rule on.