FORT WORTH, Texas — "We know it was murder," Ashley Carr said.
Carr stood outside of her family's former home, addressing reporters after Aaron Dean was sentenced for shooting and killing her sister, Atatiana Jefferson.
Last Thursday, Dean was convicted of manslaughter.
On Tuesday, the jury announced his sentence of 11 years, 10 months and 12 days.
“I think what was surprising to the family is that it wasn’t a murder conviction…that it was manslaughter," Angela Downes, UNT Dallas law professor and former prosecutor, said.
In order for someone to be charged with murder, a jury would have to be able to determine that someone intended to kill. Downes said it was strategic of the prosecution to add on a manslaughter charge as an option for the jury.
In 2019, former Dallas police officer Amber Guyger was convicted of murder and sentenced to 10 years in prison for killing Botham Jean. She will be eligible for parole in 2024.
"I felt that Amber Guyger got off easy and it was because, in my opinion, the jury was moved by her shows of contrition," Civil rights attorney Lee Merritt said.
Merritt represents both families of Jean and Jefferson.
“It seemed appropriate that Aaron Dean would face a longer sentence, despite the less severe penalty," Merritt said. "I thought the appropriate conviction was murder and the appropriate sentence was 20 years for manslaughter, but I am not surprised that Dean got a longer sentence than Amber Guyger.”
Downes said something from the trial that stood out to her was for the prosecution to be thorough in explaining to the jury that sentencing Dean to less than 10 years would make him eligible for probation.
"When the probation officer was called by the defense and was questioned about who was on probation and what the probation would look like, the prosecution did a really thorough cross examination to instruct the jury that if they were not clear about their sentence, that would be the end of the power that they had. That the power is in their hands.”
Outside of cases in North Texas, convictions for law enforcement officers are rare. When Derek Chauvin was convicted and sentenced last year for killing George Floyd, criminologist Phil Stinson told WFAA the conviction itself was more significant than the sentence length.
"The only reason that he was successfully prosecuted and convicted, and the only reason that he will now be serving a lengthy prison sentence is because of the video evidence," Stinson said.
Stinson studies police crime at Bowling Green State University and created a database through his research to track convictions and sentencing for officers who have been charged with killing people while on duty.
"We now know that police kill more than 1,000 people per year while on duty," Stinson said.
His research indicates that since 2005, only about 12 non-federal officers in the United States have been charged and sentenced.
Dean is the first ever in Tarrant County's history.