Month: December 2022

A jury has found former Texas police officer Aaron Dean guilty of manslaughter in the death of Atatiana Jefferson, a 28-year-old Black woman who was fatally shot in her Fort Worth, Texas, home in 2019. Dean had been initially indicted on a murder charge; however on Wednesday, the judge told jurors they could consider a manslaughter verdict.

Dean responded to a call about an open front door, arriving at Jefferson’s home on Oct. 12, 2019. It was revealed that Jefferson’s nephew had been over and that the home’s door was left open to vent smoke from hamburgers he burned. A neighbor had reported the open door to a nonemergency police line, and Dean testified that he believed a burglary was in process. While looking for signs of burglary, Dean went to the backyard of the house, where he saw Jefferson at a window with a handgun she owned. Jefferson’s 8-year-old nephew said that his aunt grabbed the weapon because she heard noises outside.

The main question of the trial was whether Dean saw the weapon before opening fire. Prosecutor Dale Smith contended that Dean did not announce himself and did not give Jefferson time to comply with commands such as raising her hands. Prosecutors have also alleged that Dean never saw the gun, and body camera footage released by the Fort Worth Police Department shows Dean shooting about a second after addressing Jefferson. Dean testified that he had seen the barrel of the gun pointed at him, so he opened fire. His defense attorney Bob Gill said in closing statements that Dean had a right to self defense.

Dean had completed his police academy training the year before the 2019 shooting, and quit the force two days after the shooting, hours before he was arrested and charged with murder. Dean will be sentenced at a later date. The maximum penalty for manslaughter in Texas is 20 years in prison.

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The D.C. Bar’s disciplinary counsel recommended Thursday that Rudy Giuliani be disbarred after a hearing panel tentatively determined he likely violated at least one professional conduct rule in his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election in Pennsylvania. The panel did not specify what rule Giuliani likely violated and said that its determination was preliminary and nonbinding. It plans to release a final decision in several weeks.

Hamilton “Phil” Fox, of the District of Columbia Office of Disciplinary Counsel, called for the harshest penalty for Giuliani, disbarment, after the panel announced its tentative finding, saying Giuliani tried to undermine the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential election. Said Fox: “Any lawyer that engages in this kind of misconduct, harming the country as this has done, has at least got to realize that his or her law license is at risk.”

At the conclusion of the proceedings, Giuliani expressed outrage towards the panel for allowing Fox to assert what he characterized as a “personal attack.” Giuliani’s lawyer, John Leventhal, argued for a just a minor disciplinary measure, like a letter of reprimand or private admonition, arguing that the disciplinary counsel’s arguments rely heavily on politics. “We feel that the least serious discipline should be imposed, otherwise you’re going to chill effective advocacy in the future,” Leventhal said.

A New York appellate court suspended Giuliani’s law license last year, saying he made “demonstrably false and misleading” statements about the 2020 election while serving as Trump’s lawyer. Giuliani’s D.C. law license was temporarily suspended after the New York decision.

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Police in Arizona confirmed that a suspect is dead and another person has been hospitalized after a shooting broke out outside an Amazon delivery station in the Phoenix suburb of Chandler early Wednesday morning. The victim was rushed to the hospital with life-threatening injuries. Immediately afterward, a second armed contract worker fatally shot the suspect in the parking lot, police said. The suspect was pronounced dead at the scene. There was no immedate report on the motive for the shooting.

Reports of a shooting at the Amazon Fulfillment Center came in just after 9:30 a.m. Wednesday. Multiple law enforcement resources responded, and Chandler police officers later confirmed that three people were involved in the shooting. During an afternoon news conference. Chandler Police Sgt. Jason McClimans said that the suspect, who wasn’t an Amazon employee or contrator, entered the grounds of the delivery hub and shot the unarmed contract worker multiple times at about 9:30 a.m. He said the wounded worker was hospitalized in critical condition, but is expected to survive, and that the other contracted Amazon employee who fatally shot the suspect wasn’t injured, adding he possibly stopped an active shooter situation. The names of the suspect and two contracted employees weren’t immediately released.

The Chandler facility operates as a pickup zone for contracted Amazon Flex drivers, who pick up packages to deliver the same or next day to customers. Chandler is a suburban community located about 20 miles southeast of downtown Phoenix.  Amazon spokesperson Richard Rocha said that the two contractors work to support Amazon’s delivery network, while the suspect was not employed by Amazon nor any of its contractors. Said Rocha: “We are deeply saddened by this senseless act of violence in our parking lot. We’re working closely with law enforcement as they investigate and are focused on supporting our team during this difficult time.”

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Authorities confirm that two police officers were shot and killed at a Motel 6 in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi early on Wednesday morning. The officers were responding to a call for service made to the Bay St. Louis Police Department from the motel, which is located along a stretch of interstate Highway 90 that runs through the Gulf Coast city.

The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation said in a news release that officers arrived at the Motel 6 before 4:30 a.m. local time on Wednesday, where they encountered the suspect, a woman, who fatally shot one officer and injured a second officer before killing herself. The first officer was pronounced dead at the scene, while the second officer succumbed to injuries later on Wednesday morning. Bay St. Louis Police Chief Tody Schwartz confirmed that the officers killed were Sergeant Steven Robin and Officer Branden Estorffe.

The suspect’s name has not been released, and the nature of the service call that initially brought officers to the motel is still unknown. The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation said in a statement: “MBI is currently assessing this critical incident and gathering evidence. Additional information may be made public at a later time.” Once the investigation is complete, agents at the state bureau will turn over their findings to the state’s attorney general’s office, the statement noted.

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