Atatiana Jefferson, pictured in San Diego during a trip with her siblings, was killed Oct. 12, 2019, in her mother’s Fort Worth home. Her killer, former Fort Worth police Officer Aaron Dean, is on trial for murder in Tarrant County.
Krista Torralva
The battle over an $11.25 million payout to relatives of a woman killed nearly seven years ago by a Fort Worth police officer intensified this week when a family member accused others of committing fraud in their probate filing.
The probate case involves the October 2019 fatal shooting of 28-year-old Atatiana Jefferson by then-officer Aaron Dean. Atatiana was inside her mother’s house when she was struck by a single bullet Dean fired through a bedroom window while conducting a welfare check.
The fraud allegation was made by Noella Jefferson, the widow of the man who served as a father figure to Atatiana. Marquis Jefferson was not Atatiana’s biological father, but was listed as her father on her birth certificate and helped Atatiana’s mother raise her, according to his family.
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Noella Jefferson and family spokesman Bruce Carter have called upon the Tarrant County District Attorney’s office, and other law enforcement agencies, to investigate their assertion that Atatiana’s biological father, sister and aunt committed fraud in a probate claim they filed a little more than a year after her death that cut Jefferson’s family out of the settlement.
The DA’s office did not respond to a request for comment from The Dallas Morning News.
Dean went to Atatiana’s mother’s home after a neighbor called a non-emergency police line to request a welfare check. It was around 2:30 a.m. when the neighbor noticed the home’s doors were open and lights were on inside. Jefferson and her nephew Zion Carr, who was 8 at the time, were playing video games and left the doors open after they burned some hamburgers. The nephew told investigators Atatiana got her gun when she heard noises in the backyard and was pointing it toward a window when she was shot.
Dean, who body cam video showed did not identify himself as a police officer when he yelled for Atatiana to put her hands up, was charged with murder but was convicted of manslaughter in 2022. He was sentenced to nearly 12 years in prison and will be eligible for parole in November 2028, according to Texas Department of Criminal Justice online records.
Aaron Dean looks towards the gallery before the continuation of the punishment phase of his trial on Monday, Dec. 19, 2022, at Tarrant County’s 396th District Court at the Tim Curry Criminal Justice Center in Fort Worth, Texas. Dean, a former Fort Worth Texas Police Officer, was found guilty of manslaughter in the shooting death of Atatiana Jefferson in 2019. (Amanda McCoy/Star-Telegram via AP, Pool)
Amanda McCoy/ASSOCIATED PRESS
After Atatiana’s death, Marquis Jefferson got into a legal dispute with other family members over funeral details. A Dallas County judge later ruled in his favor. Jefferson died from a heart attack less than a month after Atatiana was killed. Atatiana’s mother, Yolanda Carr, died from a long-term illness just three months after her daughter’s death.
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The probate claim filed by Atatiana’s father, sister and aunt in November 2020 listed her name as Atatiana Carr, but noted that she was also known as Atatiana Jefferson. Carter said that amounted to fraud because Atatiana’s legal last name was not Carr.
He also said Marquis Jefferson’s family was left out of settlement negotiations with Fort Worth city officials.
The city agreed last month to pay $11.25 million to the family. That offer follows one for $3.5 million made in 2023 to the nephew who witnessed the shooting.
Related: City of Fort Worth proposes $11.25 million settlement in Atatiana Jefferson civil rights case
In a statement, the city said the Tarrant County probate court is responsible for determining how the funds will be divided. The city negotiated the settlement with the person appointed administrator for the estate by the court. Court records list the administrator as Atatiana’s sister, Ashley Carr.
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“Any changes to heirship determinations would be decided by the probate court,” the statement said. “The settlement remains subject to approval by the probate court. No funds have been disbursed.”
Carr’s attorney, Fred Hartnett of Dallas, declined to comment on the case, or on Noella Jefferson’s allegations. Tanika Solomon, the Houston attorney representing Atatiana’s biological father and aunt, didn’t respond to a request for comment.
During a news conference outside the Tarrant County courthouse Thursday that was recorded by NBC 5 DFW, Noella Jefferson said she wants to ensure that her late husband is not erased from Atatiana’s life.
“It’s about standing up and doing the right thing all the time, not just when there’s a moment to maybe gain something from it,” she said.
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