Jury clears former Kentucky officer of violating civil rights of Breonna Taylor’s neighbors in deadly raid
A federal jury cleared a former Kentucky police officer on Friday of violating the civil rights of Breonna Taylor‘s neighbors in a deadly raid in 2020, but remained deadlocked on a second federal charge against Brett Hankison.
The jury elected to continue to deliberate the charge on Friday night, the Associated Press reported, which alleges Hankison violated the civil rights of Taylor. The jury has indicated to the judge in two separate messages that they are deadlocked on that count, according to the Associated Press.
This is 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; in 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.
AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley, Pool
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.
contributed to this report.