The US Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal of a Texas police officer’s manslaughter conviction for the death of Atatiana Jefferson.

Then-Fort Worth Police Officer Aaron Dean opened fire through a window of Jefferson’s home on October 12, 2019, killing her, as CrimeOnline reported. Jefferson was playing video games with her nephew in her bedroom at the back of the house when she heard noises outside her window. She picked up her gun and moved toward the window but was shot and killed by Dean from outside.

Dean and his partner were on the scene because a neighbor saw Jefferson’s door open and called for a welfare check. Body camera footage showed the two officers talking quietly to one another as they approached the house before Dean walked around to the back. He testified that he saw a silhouette in the window, called out to “show your hands,” and then fired the shot that killed Jefferson less than a second later.

It was later learned that Jefferson and her nephew had opened the door after burning hamburgers.

A jury convicted him of manslaughter in December 2022, agreeing with prosecutors that there was no way Dean could have seen her gun, and sentenced him to nearly 12 years in prison.

A Texas appeals court later upheld the conviction, KDFW reported, and his attorneys asked the US Supreme Court to consider they case. They declined.

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[Featured image: Atatiana Jefferson and Aaron Dean/handout]