Former Louisville officer guilty of violating Breonna Taylor's civil rights

A jury found former Louisville police officer Brett Hankison guilty Friday of violating Breonna Taylor's civil rights during a botched police raid in 2020.

Earlier in the evening, the jury acquitted Hankison of violating the civil rights of three of Taylor's neighbors who lived in an adjacent apartment that was also struck by gunfire during the raid. However, the jury deadlocked on the other issue relating specifically to Taylor and sent a notice to the judge that they were unable to reach a verdict. The judge ordered the jury to continue deliberating, and the jury returned its guilty verdict hours later, according to Louisville ABC affiliate WHAS.

Taylor was fatally shot during the March 2020 raid. The three officers fired dozens of shots after their friend fired one at them, hitting one of the officers.

According to prosecutors, Hankison fired 10 shots through Taylor's sliding glass door and windows, which were covered by blinds and curtains. Several of the shots went into Taylor's neighbor's apartment, where three people were there at the time. None of the 10 shots hit anyone.

Prosecutors argued Hankison's use of force was unjustified, put people in danger and violated the civil rights of Taylor and her three neighbors. The indictment alleged that Hankison deprived Taylor of the right to freedom from unwarranted confiscation and her neighbors of the right to freedom from deprivation of liberty without due process.

According to The Associated Press, several witnesses, including Louisville's current police chief, testified during the trial that the former officer violated Louisville police policy that requires officers to identify a target before firing.

The defense argued during the trial that Hankison joined a poorly planned raid and that he fired his weapon after believing someone was coming toward the other officers, the AP reported.

If convicted, the charges face a maximum penalty of life in prison.

The first trial ended in a mistrial last year when the jury was unable to reach a unanimous decision after deliberating for several days.

The plainclothes officers were serving a search warrant on Taylor's ex-boyfriend, who they claimed was dealing drugs, when they broke down the door to her apartment. He was not in the apartment, but her current boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, believed someone was breaking into the house and fired a shot from a pistol, hitting one of the officers in the leg. The three officers returned fire and fired 32 bullets into the apartment.

The original indictment alleged that Hankison also violated Walker's civil rights, but Walker was removed from the charge at the start of the retrial.

The retrial was the third trial for Hankison following the first mistrial as well as a state trial in 2022 in which he was acquitted of multiple wanton endangerment charges.

As in his previous trials, Hankison took the stand during the retrial and became emotional at times during the two days of testimony, according to WHAS, the ABC affiliate in Louisville, which covered the case in the courtroom.

According to WHAS, Hankison told jurors that he was “trying to stay alive, (and) trying to keep my partners alive.”

Hankison insisted that “the only person my bullet could have hit was the shooter,” and said there was “zero risk” of hitting anyone outside the threat, according to WHAS.

According to the AP, he said that night was the first time he had fired his weapon in nearly 20 years as a police officer.

Hankison was fired from the Louisville Metro Police Department for violating department policy when he “intentionally and blindly” shot into the apartment.

No charges were filed against the two other officers involved in the raid. Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron called Taylor's death a “tragedy” but said the two officers justified their use of force after Walker shot them.