A former Louisville police officer was found guilty of violating Breonna Taylor’s civil rights during a March 2020 police raid in which she was fatally shot. Photo / Getty Images via AFP
A former Louisville police officer was found guilty of violating Breonna Taylor’s civil rights during a March 2020 police raid in which she was fatally shot. Photo / Getty Images via AFP
A former Louisville police officer was found guilty yesterday of violating Breonna Taylor’s civil rights during a March 2020 United States police raid in which she was fatally shot, becoming the first officer directly involved in the case to be convicted on criminal charges.
A federal jurysaid Brett Hankison committed excessive force by firing 10 shots through Taylor’s apartment’s window and door, both covered with shades and curtains. The jury, which deliberated for three days, found Hankison not guilty on a second charge of violating the rights of three neighbours.
None of the bullets fired from Hankison’s gun struck anyone, but several penetrated the apartment walls and entered into the adjoining unit. Taylor was fatally shot by another officer, John Mattingly, who returned fire after Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, fired a warning shot from a legally owned handgun, investigators said.
Hankison faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Tamika Palmer, Taylor’s mother, was present in the courtroom during Hankison’s trials. After his conviction, she gathered with supporters outside the courthouse. “Thank God,” Palmer told reporters.
Breonna Taylor's mother, Tamika Palmer (centre) is seen surrounded by relatives of other victims of police violence, while addressing a press conference in September. Photo / AFP
In a statement, US Attorney-General Merrick Garland called the verdict “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”.
Taylor’s death came weeks before the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd and helped ignite nationwide protests seeking greater police accountability over the use of excessive force against black people.
Hankison “violated one of the most fundamental rules of deadly force, if they cannot see the person they’re shooting at, they cannot pull the trigger”, Assistant US Attorney Michael Songer argued during his closing statement on Thursday according to the Associated Press. Prosecutors compared Hankison’s actions to a “drive-by shooting”.
The Justice Department’s prosecution of Hankison, 48, came after he was acquitted in 2022 on state charges of wanton endangerment of Taylor’s neighbours. Hankison’s first trial on federal charges ended in a mistrial in November 2023 when the jury was deadlocked, prompting federal prosecutors to announce they would retry him.
Before Hankison’s conviction, the only person convicted in connection to the raid was Kelly Goodlett, a former detective who pleaded guilty to federal charges that she helped falsify the police search warrant that allowed officers to enter the apartment.
Goodlett, who faces up to five years in prison, is expected to testify against two other former officers, Joshua Jaynes and Kyle Meany, who also have been charged with making false statements. Their trial date has not been set. Goodlett’s sentencing date has not been set.
Louisville Metro Council member Shameka Parrish-Wright said other officers should be held accountable for their actions against Taylor, Walker, and her neighbours during the raid.
“This is a win for [Taylor’s family] and a drop in the bucket for too many more,” she said. “Her neighbours were denied justice and could have been killed.”
On the night Taylor was killed, Hankison was among seven officers serving a warrant in a drug investigation of a former friend of Taylor’s. Awakened as police forced entry into Taylor’s apartment, Walker said he feared they were being robbed and fired a warning shot that struck Mattingly in the thigh.
Mattingly and another officer, Myles Cosgrove, returned fire, killing Taylor. Prosecutors said Hankison retreated outside the apartment complex and blindly fired shots even though the gunfire inside had subsided.
Hankison testified in each of his trials, telling jurors he heard gunfire from what he mistakenly believed was a semiautomatic rifle and started shooting because he thought fellow officers were at risk of being killed.
“He did exactly what he was supposed to do,” Hankison’s defence lawyer, Don Malarcik, said during closing arguments, according to news reports. “He was acting to save lives.”
In the past four-and-a-half years in Louisville, at least five officers, including Hankison, were fired or forced to resign for their roles in the raid. Also, Kentucky lawmakers banned no-knock search warrants, and Taylor’s family reached a US$12 million ($20m) wrongful-death civil settlement with the city.
Last year, the Justice Department issued an 86-page report documenting systemic racial bias and excessive force by the Louisville Police Department. Authorities announced plans to install a federal monitor to oversee mandatory changes to the police department’s policies and training.
Louisville officials expect that consent decree, currently under negotiation, to cost the city up to US$10m per year.
