Former Louisville police officer Brett Hankison has been found guilty of violating the civil rights of Breonna Taylor, a Black woman who was fatally shot inside her own apartment during a botched law enforcement raid in 2020.
The 12-member jury delivered the verdict on Friday around 9:30 p.m., sparking an emotional response from Taylor’s friends and loved ones, who celebrated the decision outside the courtroom.
“It took a lot of time,” her mother, Tamika Palmer, told reporters. “It took a lot of patience. It was hard. The jurors took their time to really understand that Breonna deserved justice.”
Some members of the jury, made up of six men and six women, also appeared emotional as the verdict was read. They had earlier told the judge in two separate messages that they were deadlocked on the charge of using excessive force on Taylor, but opted to continue their deliberations, which ultimately took more than 20 hours spread out over the course of three days.
“Breonna Taylor’s life mattered,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “We hope the jury’s verdict recognizing this violation of Ms. Taylor’s civil and constitutional rights brings some small measure of comfort to her family and loved ones who have suffered so deeply from the tragic events of March 2020.”
Taylor, a Black EMT, was asleep in bed with her boyfriend Kenneth Walker on March 13, 2020 when three undercover Louisville cops — Brett Hankison, Jonathan Mattingly and Myles Cosgrove — burst into her home at around 12:40 a.m.
Walker fired off a warning shot, unaware the men he thought to be intruders were law enforcement officers.
Police then returned fire, striking Taylor six times. She was pronounced dead on the scene.
Hankison fired 10 shots in those chaotic moments, but he did not hit anyone. Some shots flew into a next-door neighbor’s adjoining apartment.
Earlier on Friday, jurors acquitted Hankison on a second count that accused him of violating the civil rights of Taylor’s neighbor. He was being retried by the Justice Department after a first jury deadlocked on both counts, ending in a mistrial, in November 2023.
With News Wire Services
