Jury convicts ex-Kentucky officer of using excessive force in deadly Breonna Taylor raid
A federal jury on Friday convicted a former Kentucky police detective of using excessive force on Breonna Taylor during the botched 2020 drug raid that left her dead.
The 12-member jury returned the late night verdict after clearing Brett Hankison earlier in the evening on a charge that he used excessive force on Taylor's neighbors, but elected to continue to deliberate on the second charge.
Some members of the jury were in tears as the verdict was read around 9:30 p.m. Friday. They had earlier indicated to the judge in two separate messages that they were deadlocked on the charge of using excessive force Taylor but chose to continue deliberating. The six man, six woman jury deliberated for more than 20 hours over three days.
Taylor's mother, Tamika Palmer, celebrated the verdict with friends outside the federal courthouse, saying: "It took a lot of time. It took a lot of patience. It was hard. The jurors took their time to really understand that Breonna deserved justice."
Hankison fired 10 shots into Taylor's glass door and windows during the raid, but didn't hit anyone. Some shots flew into a next-door neighbor's adjoining apartment.
"Today, Brett Hankison was found guilty by a jury of his peers for willfully depriving Breonna Taylor of her constitutional rights," said Attorney General Merrick Garland in a statement. "His use of deadly force was unlawful and put Ms. Taylor in harm's way. This verdict is an important step toward accountability for the violation of Breonna Taylor's civil rights, but justice for the loss of Ms. Taylor is a task that exceeds human capacity."
The conviction against Hankison carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. His sentencing is scheduled for March 12.
This was the second attempt to convict Hankison on two charges alleging the shots he fired during the raid violated the civil rights of 26-year-old Taylor and her neighbors. Last year, a federal judge declared a mistrial after jurors failed to reach a decision on the charges against the former Louisville police detective.
During the retrial, prosecutors narrowed the scope of the indictment. Hankison faced two civil rights charges alleging the former officer willfully used unconstitutionally excessive force while acting in his official capacity. The first count said the officer deprived Taylor and her boyfriend of their constitutional rights by firing shots through a bedroom window that was covered with blinds and a blackout curtain. In the retrial, Kenneth Walker, the boyfriend, was removed from the indictment, and not called to the stand, reported the Louisville Courier.
The second count, which remained the same, said Hankison deprived three of Taylor's neighbors of their constitutional rights by shooting through a sliding glass door covered by blinds and a curtain.
Both charges alleged Hankison used a dangerous weapon and his conduct indicated an intent to kill that night.
Seven officers entered Taylor's apartment after midnight on March 13, 2020, using a "no-knock" warrant as part of a drug investigation. She was asleep with Walker, who heard the noise and fired one shot from a gun at what he thought were intruders. Police opened fire and Taylor, an EMT, was shot and killed. Police did not find any narcotics at the apartment.
Hankison fired 10 rounds —which investigators said didn't hit anyone— through a window and sliding glass door into Taylor's apartment. Hankison said he thought he was doing the right thing protecting his fellow officers.
On Monday he testified that he believed there was a back-and-forth gun battle happening and his fellow officers were in danger, the Associated Press reported, quoting Hankison as saying it "sounded like a semiautomatic rifle making its way down the hallway and executing everybody in my (group)."
Hankison and his attorneys used this defense through his first federal trial and a 2022 state trial, for which he was acquitted of all charges after a jury deliberated for three hours.
"This case is about Brett Hankison's 10 shots that never hit anyone," his attorney, Don Malarcik, said during his closing arguments, the Associated Press reported. "Brett Hankison is charged with violating the constitutional rights of people he never met and never knew existed."
The Justice Department filed charges of civil rights violations against four former Louisville police officers, including Hankison. Charges against three of the other officers stemmed from alleged falsification of the affidavit used to obtain the search warrant that authorized the early morning raid on Taylor's apartment, prosecutors said. Federal prosecutors filed a superseding indictment weeks after a federal judge threw out major felony charges against two of the former officers, Louisville Police Detective Joshua Jaynes and former Sgt. Kyle Meany.
If convicted of the federal charges, Hankison would face a maximum sentence of life in prison.
In response to the Taylor case, Kentucky enacted a law in 2021 that limits when police can use no-knock warrants.