Alright, not a Tarrant County
where testimony is underway
in Aaron Dean's murder trial.
The first witness was a Tatiana
Jefferson's nephew who told the jury I
saw my antique crying after she got shot.
The 11 year old boy was only 8 the
night officer Dean responded to a
welfare check at his aunts home.
The former Fort Worth police officer
is accused of killing Jefferson
and has pleaded not guilty.
Senior crime and justice reporter.
Rebecca Lopez has more on that nephew's
testimony on the first day of trial.
Zion Carr was the only
witness inside a Tatiana
Jefferson's home. He was eight years
old when she was shot to death
in front of him by former Fort
Worth police officer Aaron Dean.
I seen her fell on the ground.
Did you see what was what?
Did you see anything outside the window, Sir?
You didn't see a man with a badge?
Says he and his aunt were playing
video games around 2:30 in the
morning on October 12th, 2019.
I did you know your aunt favored
a noise? Because she told me I
didn't hear it and I said no.
He says that's when his aunt got a
gun out of her purse and walked to
the window. She didn't put it up.
She just kept it next to her,
like on her side.
He saw her fall to the ground.
She started crying again.
After that, two police officers
came and got me, prosecutors
told the jury Dean and his
partner were called to Jefferson's
home after a neighbor called.
On emergency number to report her door
had been opened for several hours.
They don't announce. They don't know.
They don't ring the doorbell. Instead,
prosecutors say, Dean and his
partner went around the back and
within seconds, a Tatiana was dead.
He did not. See again in her.
This is not a justification.
This is not a self-defense case.
This is murder.
So we have to start looking at
what Aaron knew at the time.
What did he know at the time,
defense attorneys told jurors
they will prove this was a tragic
accident and Dean feared for his
life when he saw a gun pointed
at him. He sees it. He sees
the green laser and the gun
come up on him. He
takes a half a step back,
gives a command and fires his weapon.
Dean's attorneys say it will come
down to what Dean knew at the time.
And did he act responsibly
when he used deadly force.
Now, when the jury
was not in the courtroom,
the judge called in Attorney Lee Merritt.
He represents the family in a federal
lawsuit, and he admonished him for
speaking publicly about this case
because he is a potential witness,
because he has spoken to Zion and
there is a gag order on witnesses.
Also, the judge kicked out a
person in the courtroom, a woman,
who he said was gesturing to Zion
while he was on the witness stand.
Now testimony resumes tomorrow
at 9:00 AM in Fort Worth.
I'm Rebecca Lopez.
Back to you.
Thank you,
Rebecca. The day was 1/2 day for
the Aaron Dean trial so that those
who wanted to could say their
goodbyes to attorney Jim Lane.
Lane was the lead attorney for Dean
and had many colleagues and friends
at the Tarrant County Courthouse.
He died a week ago Sunday
during today's funeral.
His son Jake was among those
who paid a special tribute.
Jake mentioned his father was
known for telling funny stories
and he shared one of them which
involved their car over heating
during a father son road trip.
Have a listen.
He goes and opens the hood and the
cap of the coolant is hanging off
and all of the coolants out of it.
So he comes back around,
looks me with the most eye chilling
stare I'd ever seen through
the windshield of that car.
And says. Jake.
Did you forget to screw on the coolant cap?
And I looked at him, and I was.
Maybe.
Along with his son Jake,
Lane leaves behind his wife, Janet
and his brother Bill. We're
covering the Aaron Dean
trial from start to finish,
lining up a team of legal experts
to walk us through every moment.
You can find our streaming
coverage and legal analysis
on WFA plus and WF a.com,
as well as our YouTube page.