A federal jury convicted a former Kentucky police detective Friday of excessive use of force. Breonna Taylor during the botched 2020 drug raid that left her dead.
The 12-member jury returned its verdict late in the night after clearing Brett Hankison earlier in the evening of the charge of using excessive force against Taylor’s neighbors, but chose to continue deliberating on the second charge.
Some members of the jury were in tears when the verdict was read Friday around 9:30 p.m. They previously told the judge in two separate messages that they were deadlocked on the excessive use of force charge, but chose to continue their deliberations. The jury, made up of six men and six women, 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 long time. It took a lot of patience. It was difficult. The jurors took their time to truly understand that Breonna deserved justice.”
Dylan Lovan/AP
Hankison fired 10 shots at Taylor’s glass door and windows during the raid, but did not hit anyone. Some shots were fired towards the adjoining apartment of a next door neighbor.
“Today, Brett Hankison was found guilty by a jury of his peers for willfully depriving Breonna Taylor of her constitutional rights,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. “His use of deadly force was unlawful and put Ms. Taylor in danger. This verdict is an important step toward accountability for the violation of Breonna Taylor’s civil rights, but justice for Ms. Taylor’s loss is a task beyond human capabilities.
The conviction against Hankison carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. His sentencing is scheduled for March 12.
It was the second attempt to convict Hankison on two counts alleging that shots he fired during the raid violated the civil rights of Taylor, 26, and his neighbors. Last year, a federal judge declared a mistrial after jurors failed to reach a decision on charges against the former Louisville police detective.
In the retrial, prosecutors narrowed the scope of the indictment. Hankison faced two civil rights charges alleging the former officer deliberately used excessive and unconstitutional force while acting in his official capacity. The first charge said the officer deprived Taylor and her boyfriend of their constitutional rights by shooting through a bedroom window covered with blinds and a blackout curtain. At the retrial, Kenneth Walker, the boyfriend, was removed from the indictment and was not called to the stand, the Louisville Courier reported.
The second count, which remained the same, states that 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 that Hankison used a dangerous weapon and that his conduct indicated an intent to kill that night.
AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley, swimming pool
Seven police officers entered Taylor’s apartment after midnight on March 13, 2020, using an arrest warrant as part of a drug investigation. She was sleeping with Walker, who heard the noise and fired a shot at what he thought were intruders. The police opened fire and Taylor, a paramedic, was shot and killed. Police found no drugs in the apartment.
Hankison fired 10 shots — which investigators said did not hit anyone — through a window and sliding glass door into Taylor’s apartment. Hankison said he believed he was doing the right thing by protecting his fellow officers.
On Monday, he said he thought there was a shooting and that his fellow officers were in danger, the Associated Press reported, quoting Hankison as saying it “sounded like a semi-automatic rifle heading down the hallway and performing”. everyone in my (group).”
Hankison and his lawyers used this defense in his first federal trial and a state trial in 2022, 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 lawyer, Don Malarcik, said during his closing argument, the Associated Press reported. “Brett Hankison is accused of violating the constitutional rights of people he never met and did not know existed.”
The Ministry of Justice filed a complaint for civil rights violations against four former Louisville police officers, including Hankison. The charges against three of the other officers stemmed from the alleged falsification of the affidavit used to obtain the search warrant authorizing the early morning search of Taylor’s apartment, prosecutors said. Federal prosecutors filed a superseding indictment weeks later a federal judge rejected major criminal 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 promulgated a law in 2021, this limits when police can use no-knock warrants.
Robert Legare contributed to this report.
