by Daniel Johnson
November 18, 2023
The jury was deadlocked on both counts against the former Louisville police officer who fired stray bullets during the raid.
On Nov. 16, a mistrial was declared in the federal trial of Brett Hankison, the officer who has been accused of violating Breonna Taylor’s civil rights during a botched raid by the Louisville Police Department in 2020. According to NBC News, the jury remained in a deadlock over both counts Hankison was facing. Hankison faced allegations of employing excessive force when he discharged 10 rounds into Taylor’s window and glass door after officers claimed they were fired upon during their attempted raid.
NBC News reported some of Hankison’s shots went into a neighbor’s apartment, but they did not strike anyone. Police officers fatally shot Taylor after her boyfriend, mistaking the police, who were doing a “no-knock” raid, for intruders, fired at them when they entered the apartment. In response to her boyfriend hitting an officer, two officers discharged a total of 22 rounds, tragically striking Taylor in the chest and resulting in her death.
The raid was supposed to target Taylor’s ex-boyfriend, Jamarcus Glover, who has since said that she had no involvement with his drug trade operation. Glover did not live with Taylor at the time.
Hankison was fired from the Louisville Police Department in June of 2020. Hankison was found not guilty on state charges of wanton endangerment in March 2022.
According to ABC News, Hankison said during his testimony that he could not see the outline of a person through the blinds of Taylor’s apartment, but he could see muzzle flashes coming from the inside of the apartment. Hankison also said that at the time he saw the muzzle flashes, he believed his officers were being executed.
The prosecution argued that Hankison’s shell casings were not found near the sidewalk closer to the apartment, where he said he was when he fired his shots, but instead, they were found near a gray truck in the apartment’s parking lot. The federal trial was the second attempt to hold Hankison accountable for his actions, and a spokesperson for the DOJ told ABC News, “The Department of Justice is actively considering all of our available options.”
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