Washington, July 21 (EFE).-
A federal judge in Kentucky on Monday sentenced a former police officer involved in the raid that resulted in the death of Breonna Taylor to nearly three years in prison for use of excessive force.
In March 2020, the 26-year-old Black medical worker was shot and killed by police officers in Louisville, after they used a no-knock search warrant on her home, forcing their way in. Her boyfriend, believing they were intruders, fired a warning shot at the officers with a legally owned firearm, hitting one officer in the leg, while police returned fire 32 times, hitting Taylor six times.
Former officer Brett Hankison, 49, fired 10 shots blindly into the apartment during the raid. They didn’t hit anyone, but several bullets penetrated the apartment walls and entered the neighboring unit, narrowly missing a family.
In November 2024, Hankison was convicted by a jury in Kentucky of violating Taylor’s civil rights by using excessive force. He has now become the only police officer convicted and sentenced in the case.
Last week, the Donald Trump administration’s Department of Justice recommended Hankison be sentenced to time already served (one day in prison), plus three years probation, saying he “did not shoot Ms. Taylor and is not otherwise responsible for her death.”
The position contrasted starkly with the department’s approach to the case under the previous Joe Biden administration, which spent years prosecuting the officer. Under federal sentencing guidelines, he faced up to life in prison.
District Judge Rebecca Grady rejected the DoJ sentencing memo, saying “no prison time is not appropriate,” and handed Hankison a 33-month sentence and one year of probation.
None of the other officers at the scene were charged in court after prosecutors deemed they were justified in returning fire.
Three who were not at the scene have not gone to trial. Former officers Joshua Jaynes and Kyle Meany face charges around falsifying records and lying to investigators. Kelly Goodlett has pleaded guilty to conspiring to obtain a fraudulent search warrant, and her trial was postponed until February next year.
After the 2020 incident, the DoJ, then under the Biden administration, had concluded that officers in Louisville use “excessive force, including unjustified neck restraints and the unreasonable use of police dogs and Tasers.”
It also accused law enforcement of conducting searches based on invalid warrants, executing search warrants without knocking and announcing, and of discriminating against Black people, among other things.
The officers had carried out a “no-knock” warrant, which allowed them to enter the apartment without identifying themselves. Such warrants were banned in the city after the incident and then partially banned across the state.
Taylor’s death was followed two months later by the murder of George Floyd by a white officer, together sparking the largest wave of racial injustice protests in the US since the 1960s. EFE aaca/tw
