Brett Hankison found guilty of violating Breonna Taylor’s civil rights

Former Louisville Metro Police Detective Brett Hankison was found guilty of violating Breonna Taylor’s civil rights during Police raid in March 2020 that resulted in her death.

The jury reached its verdict late Friday after returning a partial verdict that acquitted Hankison of a separate count of trespassing on her neighbors.

This is the second federal trial Hankison has faced, in which jurors have heard testimony from more than a dozen witnesses over the past two weeks.

With their arguments, federal prosecutors hoped to convince jurors that Hankison flagrantly violated LMPD policy and endangered several people who were at the apartment complex that night.

But Hankison’s defense argued that the former detective’s actions were justified because at the time he believed he was saving the lives of his fellow officers. During closing arguments, his lawyers also presented an 11th hour defense that called into question was Taylor still alive when Hankison fired his bullets?which proved to be a sticking point for the jury during deliberations.

Despite the defense, the jury of five white men, one black man and six white women returned a guilty verdict after three days of deliberations.

Following the sentencing, members of Taylor’s family burst into tears and hugged immediately after leaving the courtroom. Prosecutors asked that Hankison be taken into custody immediately, but the judge denied their request.

“It took a lot of patience. It took a long time,” Tamika Palmer, Taylor’s mother, said outside the steps of the federal court after the sentencing. “It took 1,694 days. It was long, it was hard, it was… I don’t know if I have any words (other than) “thank God.”

Hankison will be sentenced on March 12. He faces a maximum penalty of life in prison.

Following the sentencing, Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the U.S. Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division released a statement saying Hankison was “held accountable” for his actions.

“Breonna Taylor’s life mattered. We hope that the jury’s verdict finding that Ms. Taylor’s civil and constitutional rights were violated will bring some comfort to her family and loved ones who suffered so greatly from the tragic events of March 2020,” Clark said. “We hope that communities will use this moment to say her name and engrave the life and lasting legacy of Breonna Taylor in their hearts and minds.”

Here’s what happened in this case.

Breonna Taylor shooting: what happened that night

Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency room technician, was in her South End apartment when she… was fatally shot by plainclothes officers at approximately 12:40 p.m. on March 13, 2020, during a botched drug investigation.

officerswho claim that before the forced entry they knocked several times and announced themselves, tried to serve search warrant. Neither Taylor nor her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, who was in the apartment at the time, were the target of the investigation, and no drugs were found in the house. Walker and several neighbors also say they did not hear the officers identify themselves as law enforcement.

As officers entered, Walker fired one shot from his pistol, which struck the officer, then-Sgt. John Mattingly, in the leg. Walker later said he believed the officers were intruders.

Hankison, who had been with the Louisville Metro Police for about 17 years at the time of the raid and was one of three officers to discharge his weapon that night, fired 10 shots into Taylor’s apartment through a closed glass door and window. Three of these rounds completed to a neighboring apartment, where there were a man, a pregnant woman and a 5-year-old child. None of Hankison’s shots struck Taylor or any of the neighbors.

Hankison was charged federally with violating the civil rights of Taylor and three neighbors in an adjacent apartment. Initial trial on these charges ended in litigation in November 2023, when the jury could not agree on a verdict.

During deliberations, jurors ask: Was Breonna Taylor a “living victim”?

About five hours into deliberations, jurors sent a question to the judge and attorneys, asking if they “needed to know whether Breonna Taylor was a living victim when Hankison fired (his weapon).”

Jury instructions agreed upon by the prosecution and defense said Hankison is accused of depriving Taylor, a “living victim,” of her rights.

Defense attorney Don Malarczyk made the defense’s closing argument. argued that the government provided no evidence that Taylor was alive when Hankison fired shots that prosecutors said “flyed over” Taylor’s head. In his rebuttal, prosecutor Michael Songer argued that Taylor was still alive for several seconds between the time she was struck by other officers’ gunfire and the time Hankison fired, and asked jurors to use “common sense.”

After questioning the jurors, the lawyers agreed to tell them to rely on their reading of the given instructions.

After a further 10 hours of deliberation, the jury sent a note to the judge on Friday afternoon saying they believed they were unable to reach a unanimous verdict. Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings brought the jury back into the courtroom to arraign Allen, which calls for them to reach a verdict.

After another five hours of deliberation, the jurors returned a note saying they “continued to disagree on one point.” Returning them to the courtroom, Jennings told them they had the opportunity to reach a partial verdict on one count – violating the civil rights of either Taylor or three neighbors: Cody Etherton, Chelsea Napper and their young child – and potentially move on to consider another.

They returned a not guilty verdict on the neighbors’ charges around 7 p.m. and returned to the courtroom around 9:30 p.m. with a not guilty verdict on Taylor’s charges.

After the sentencing, Taylor family attorney Lonita Baker criticized defense attorneys for their closing arguments against Walker, whom Malarczyk called a “criminal” and claimed he didn’t care about saving Taylor’s life that night.

“Breonna Taylor’s family and the Walker family, they are here and together they are strong,” Baker said.

What other LMPD officers have been charged in the Breonna Taylor case?

Hankison was one of four people charged federally in connection with the raid on Taylor’s apartment. The others are former LMPD officers Joshua Janes, Kelly Goodlett and Kyle Meaney.

Mini and Janes were charged with federal civil rights and obstruction charges related to the preparation and approval of a false search warrant.

Goodlett was charged with one count of criminal mischief. collusion with Janes falsify a search warrant for Taylor’s home and cover up his actions. In August 2022 she pleaded guilty to this charge. She is expected to be the star witness at trial Janes and Mini.

Contact reporter Rachel Smith at [email protected] or @RachelSmithNews on X, formerly known as Twitter.