A federal jury Friday night found former Kentucky police detective Brett Hankison guilty of using excessive forced on Breonna Taylor during a botched drug raid in 2020 that left her dead.
The 12-member jury returned their verdict late Friday night after acquitting Hankison of using excessive force on Taylor’s neighbors during the raid. The verdict was announced around 9:30 p.m. local time on Friday and saw some members of the jury in tears after the verdict was read.
Taylors death, coupled with the murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis Police officer Derek Chauvin in May 2020 sparked racial injustice protests around the country. The conviction of Hankison carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. The six man, six woman jury deliberated for more than 20 hours over three days.
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The 48-year-old Hankison was being retried in federal court after his November 2023 ended in a mistrial after a jury was deadlocked on both counts. Federal prosecutors had accused Hankison of shooting blindly into Taylor’s apartment but had not charged him with the with fatally shooting her.
Hankison fired 10 shots into Taylors glass door and windows during the raid, but didnt hit anyone. Some shots flew into a next-door neighbors adjoining apartment.
The former officers defense team argued that he was acting to protect his fellow officers after Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, fired at officers after they broke down the door using a battering ram.
This jury had sent a note on Thursday to U.S. District Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings asking whether they needed to know if Taylor was alive as Hankison fired his shots.
That was a point of contention during closing arguments, when Hankisons attorney Don Malarcik told the jury that prosecutors must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Ms. Taylor was alive when Hankison fired.
After the jury sent the question, Jennings urged them to keep deliberating.
Walker shot and wounded one of the officers. Hankison testified that when Walker fired, he moved away, rounded the corner of the apartment unit and fired into Taylors glass door and a window.
Meanwhile, officers at the door returned Walkers fire, hitting and killing Taylor, who was in a hallway.
Walker had been initially charged with assault and attempted murder of a police officer but those charges were dismissed in March 2021.
Hankisons lawyers argued during closing statements Wednesday that Hankison was acting properly in a very tense, very chaotic environment that lasted about 12 seconds. They emphasized that Hankisons shots didnt hit anyone.
Hankison was one of four officers charged by the U.S. Department of Justice in 2022 with violating Taylors civil rights. Thus far, those charges have yielded just one conviction: a plea deal from a former officer who was not at the raid and became a cooperating witness in another case.
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