A former Fort Worth, Texas police officer who shot and killed Atatiana Jefferson by firing a shot through the bedroom window of her home was convicted on Thursday of manslaughter following two weeks of testimony and 13 hours of deliberations.

A jury ruled that Aaron Dean was guilty and he now faces a prison sentence of 20 years for murdering Jefferson in her home at 9:00 PM on October 12, 2019.

Jefferson, 28, and her nephew, Zion Carr, then eight, were cooking hamburgers earlier in the afternoon. They opened the front door of the house to let in the fresh air. 

At 2: 30 a.m., the neighbor called the police, telling the cops the front door was open. 

Jefferson, who was playing with her nephew, who had awakened, heard a noise and pulled a gun from her purse. The neighbor had called the police for a welfare check; he didn’t expect his call would result in a murder.

Film footage shows Dean screaming at Jefferson, telling her to put up her hands, before firing through the window the shot that killed her. 

Former Fort Worth Police Chief Ed Kraus said Dean’s conduct was in violation of multiple department policies regarding the use of force and he was dismissed from the police department.

Carr testified that his aunt was laying on the floor crying before she died. “I was thinking that it was a dream,” Carr said.

In another instance, Dean was accused of sexually molesting a classmate, who reported the incident to the police.

The investigation into Jefferson’s shooting death had been delayed for more than three years.

Jefferson was a graduate of Xavier University in Louisiana with a degree in biology. She sold medical pharmaceutical equipment, but she dreamt of attending medical school.