Cop who blindly shot into Breonna Taylor’s home convicted

In Louisville, Kentucky, police did a lot of questionable things before, during, and after the March 2020 drug raid that… killed Breonna Taylor is a 26-year-old ER nurse and aspiring nurse. Their omissions included misleading and legally flawed search warrant affidavit; reckless, in the middle of the night home invasion this led to a deadly confrontation; And CONSPIRACY to cover up misrepresentations that preceded the raid. But the most puzzling aspect of the incident was Detective Brett Hankison’s decision blind fire 10 shots taken from outside Taylor’s apartment through the bedroom window and sliding glass door, covered with blinds and curtains.

On Friday, after deliberating more than 20 hours over three days, a federal jury in Louisville convicted Hankison intentionally violated Taylor’s Fourth Amendment rights under color of law by firing five shots through a bedroom window. Although none of the bullets hit Taylor, federal prosecutors argued that Hankison endangered her life by unlawfully using deadly force.

Because charge “with the use of a dangerous weapon and attempted murder,” Hankison faces maximum punishment life in prison. The jury acquitted him of a second count under the same statute, alleging he violated the constitutional rights of Taylor’s neighbors, who were threatened by bullets entering their apartment.

Hankison, who was dismissed since joining the Louisville Metro Police Department in June 2020, he is the only officer directly involved in the raid to be found guilty of a crime. In March 2022, the state jury acquitted him in a wanton threat, the charge is based on the same use of force. Hankison was accused on federal civil rights charges five months later. His first prosecution on those charges ended last year mistrial after the jury failed to reach a verdict.

During the second federal trial, Hankison again testified that he tried to help two fellow officers at Taylor’s apartment, Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly and Detective Miles Cosgrove think they are under constant fire. This is what actually happened, as described by the Ministry of Justice press release on Hankison’s conviction:

While executing a warrant at Taylor’s home, officers knocked on Taylor’s door and announced themselves as police at approximately 12:45 p.m. No one answered the door, and officers saw no signs that anyone in the house had woken up or heard their announcement. . Police then rammed the door, and Taylor’s boyfriend, believing intruders were breaking in, fired his pistol once at the officers, two of whom returned fire, wounding and killing Taylor.

Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, has repeatedly stated that he did not hear any announcements and had no idea that the intruders who broke into the apartment were police. He was initially charged with attempted murder of a police officer, but prosecutors fallen that prosecution two months later implicitly accepted that Walker had a valid claim of self-defense. The bullet he fired hit Mattingly in the leg. In response, Mattingly and Cosgrove fired a total of 22 shots into the dark hallway where an unarmed Taylor stood next to Walker.

Hankison, who could not see what was happening because he had moved away from the doorway toward the apartment, testified that he mistook his colleagues’ hail of bullets for gunfire from a semi-automatic rifle. “I saw those windows and doors catch fire,” he said. said. “It seemed like there was a strobe light… To me it looks like an AR-15 is firing and it seems like it’s getting closer and louder.” He added that it “sounded like a semi-automatic rifle was coming down the hallway and executing everyone.”

Despite this, Hankison’s reaction is difficult to understand, since he had no way of knowing who his projectiles might hit. Associated Press notes that “multiple witnesses, including the Louisville Police Chief,” testified that Hankison “violated Louisville Police Department policy, which requires officers to identify a target before shooting.”

Defense attorney Don Malarsik, however, insisted that Hankison did nothing wrong. “He did exactly what he had to do,” Malarczyk. said jurors during his closing argument. “He acted to save lives.”

That’s not true, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Songer. Hankison ‘violated one of the most fundamental rules of the use of deadly force,’ Songer said jury. “If they can’t see the person they’re shooting at, they won’t be able to pull the trigger.”

Former interim Louisville Police Chief Cosgrove, who fired 16 shots into the apartment, including the one that killed Taylor, did something similar, Yvette Gentry said. Gentry canned Cosgrove in December 2020, saying he fired “in three completely different directions,” indicating he “did not identify a target” and instead “fired in a manner consistent with suppressive fire, which is in direct conflict with our training, values ​​and policy.”

Like Hankison, Cosgrove said he mistook the police shooting (Mattingly) for incoming bullets. He said He was “struck by the bright flashes and darkness,” which led him to believe that “the bright light was still causing gunshots to be fired,” investigators said. Cosgrove, who later found a job as a Carroll County, Kentucky sheriff’s deputy, suggested he fired the gun without thinking. “I just felt like I shot,” he said. “It’s like a surreal thing. If you told me that I didn’t do something at that time, I would believe you. If you told me I did something, I would probably believe you too.”

However, an investigation by Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron came to the conclusion that both Cosgrove and Mattingly fired in self-defense, meaning criminal charges were not warranted. The fact that Walker Also Looks like he shot in self-defense, emphasizes recklessness about the “dynamic entry” tactics that police reflexively used in this case.

Taylor’s death inspired extensive local protests and became a leading exhibit of the Black Lives Matter movement along with the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis two months later. In September 2020, the City of Louisville agreed to $12 million settlement lawsuit filed by Taylor’s family. But other than Hankison’s unsuccessful prosecution, the raid did not result in any state charges.

The Ministry of Justice, on the contrary, received indictments against Hankison and three other current or former Louisville officers involved in the raid: former Detective Joshua Jaynes, who filed the search warrant affidavit; Sergeant Kyle Meaney, who signed this agreement; and Detective Kelly Goodlett, who allegedly “conspired with Janes to falsify a search warrant for Taylor’s home and subsequently cover up his actions.”

Janes affidavitthat linked Taylor to an ex-boyfriend’s drug dealing, based on little more than guilt by association, “contained false and misleading statements, omitted material facts, relied on outdated information and was not supported by probable cause,” the Justice Department said. speaks. Janes, like Hankison, is accused of willfully violating Taylor’s Fourth Amendment rights. Former detective who was dismissed in December 2020 for lying in his testimony, he was also charged with falsification of records in a federal investigation and with CONSPIRACY for “agreeing with another detective to conceal a false affidavit following Taylor’s death by writing a false investigative letter and making false statements to criminal investigators.”

Minim faces the same civil rights charges. He was also charged with make a false statement to federal investigators, saying police sought a search warrant for Taylor’s apartment because the police department’s SWAT team requested it.

Goodlett, the detective who allegedly conspired with Jaynes, pleaded guilty in August 2022, weeks after she was charged. Jaynes and Meaney have not yet been tried. Last August, a federal judge fired strengthened the civil rights charges against them, denying the claim that their alleged misconduct “included the use of a dangerous weapon” or “resulted in Taylor’s death.” Janes and Mini were re-charged in light of this ruling passed last month.

“Brett Hankison was found guilty by a jury of his peers of willfully depriving Breonna Taylor of her constitutional rights,” Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. said on Friday. “His use of deadly force was unlawful and endangered Ms. Taylor.” While “this verdict is an important step toward accountability for the violations of Breonna Taylor’s civil rights,” Garland added, “bringing justice to the loss of Ms. Taylor is a task that exceeds human capabilities.”