Former Louisville Police Detective Brett Hankison has been found guilty of using unjustified and unreasonable force against Breonna Taylor in 2020 when he shot into her windows and doors, which were covered with blinds and curtains blocking his view, on the night that she died.
Hankison was found not guilty on a separate charge of using excessive force against Taylor’s neighbors, whose apartment was also hit by the gunfire, the Associated Press reported.
A federal jury in Louisville delivered its verdict Friday evening after hours of deliberation. At one point, jurors told the judge they didn’t think they would be able to reach a verdict, Louisville television station WHAS reported.
“It took a lot of time. It took a lot of patience. It was hard,” Taylor’s mother, Tamika Palmer, told the Associated Press. “The jurors took the time to truly understand that Breonna deserved justice.”
Hankison will be sentenced on March 12 and faces up to life in prison, the AP said.
Police broke down the door of Taylor’s apartment on Springfield Drive unannounced after midnight on March 13, 2020. Taylor’s friend, Kenneth Walker, later said he thought the police were intruders breaking in, and he fired at them with a legal weapon. where an officer was hit in the leg.
Hankison testified at the trial that he walked around the corner of the apartment building and fired shots at Taylor’s unit, according to the AP. He fired ten bullets, but none hit anyone.
In addition to Hankison, two officers returned Walker’s fire from the doorway, striking and killing Taylor. They were not charged because prosecutors said their use of force was justified in response to the shots fired at them.
Prosecutors said Hankison’s actions in shooting without being able to see his target threatened the lives of civilians and other officers, WDRB reported.
It was the third time Hankison was tried on charges related to the raid.
A mistrial was declared when the jury could not reach a verdict in Hankison’s federal case last November.
In 2022, he was acquitted in a state trial on charges of wanton endangerment.
Hankison, who previously worked for the Lexington Police Department, served 17 years with the Louisville Police Department before being fired in June 2020 for violating procedure when he blindly fired into Taylor’s apartment.
Two other officers, former LMPD Sgt. Kyle Meany and former LMPD Detective Joshua Jaynes still face charges.
One officer, former LMPD Detective Kelly Goodlett, pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge in 2022, admitting that she helped forge the affidavit to allow officers to search Taylor’s apartment, then laid make false statements to try to cover it up.
Her sentencing is scheduled for April 29.
The death of Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency room technician, became a galvanizing issue in the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020, leading to calls for search warrant reform across the country and months of nightly protests in Louisville.
