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Judge hears motions in Aaron Dean trial

Court resumed Tuesday, but adjourned again without a decision on requests for a change of venue and a delay of trial.

FORT WORTH, Texas — Updated Tuesday at 10:54 a.m.

The judge in the trial for Aaron Dean heard pre-trial motions for a second day, but said decisions for the two biggest motions - requests for a change of venue and a delay of trial - won't come until Wednesday.

Dean is the former Fort Worth police officer charged in the 2019 shooting death of Atatiana Jefferson.

Judge David Hagerman began hearing motions from both the state and the defense Monday. Much of them were standard legal motions, the majority of which focused on what needed to be turned over and shared with the other side, while Dean sat silently at the defense table. Jefferson's sister, Ashley Carr, was also present in the courtroom that day.

During the two-hour session, which adjourned shortly after noon, the court also talked about the timeline to have criminal histories completed for all witnesses for both sides. 

Many of the motions discussed during court either already had rulings issued or were slated to be decided during the trial.

Court resumed on Tuesday, but adjourned again without a decision on requests for a change of venue and a delay of trial. The judge said both requests would be heard on Wednesday.

Dean's attorneys earlier this month had filed a flurry of pre-trial motions in the case, including the request for a venue change, arguing that Dean would not receive a fair trial in Tarrant County due to media coverage of the case.

However, in another Dec. 7 court filing, the state objected to those calls for the trial to be moved, presenting sworn affidavits from former prosecutors and community leaders who said they did not feel that coverage of the case "has been inflammatory or prejudicial."

Dean is charged with murder in Jefferson's Oct. 12, 2019 death.

On that night, a neighbor had called police requesting a welfare check after he saw the door open at Jefferson's Fort Worth home. 

Jefferson, 28, was playing video games with her 8-year-old nephew when Dean walked into the backyard. She grabbed her gun and had gotten up to look out the window when she was shot, police records show. Jefferson died at the scene.

An arrest warrant stated three times that Dean did not announce that he was a police officer when he walked around the house. 

Dean did not give any statement to Fort Worth investigators on why he shot, officials said. In such investigations, it's common for a police officer to give a statement to investigators and to the internal affairs division of their police department. 

Dean resigned before he could be fired, Fort Worth Police Department officials said.

Ariel Plasencia, Addie Haney, Jason Trahan and Ryan Osborne contributed to this report. 

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