Former Kentucky police officer is found guilty of using excessive force in fatal Breonna Taylor raid

A federal jury has handed down a guilty verdict in the murder case surrounding the botched arrest of Breonna Taylor. 

Former Louisville police officer Brett Hankison was convicted as a result, after jurors found he used excessive force during the 2020 drug raid that left Taylor dead.

The consensus paved the way for the first conviction in the high-profile case, putting away one of four officers involved.

All had been accused of violating Taylor’s civil rights, with former Det. Kelly Goodlett this past August pleading guilty to a federal conspiracy charge for falsifying the warrant that led to the deadly chain of events.

The death of the 26-year-old black woman went on to spark protests nationwide, with activists alleging racial injustice played a part in police’s actions that day.

‘While it cannot restore Breonna to her family, it represents a crucial step in the pursuit of justice and a reminder that no one should be above the law,’ wrote Bernice King, the daughter of Martin Luther King Jr., in a social media post late Friday night. 

The civil rights scion went on to brand the verdict ‘a long-awaited moment of accountability,’ as Taylor’s mother, Tamika Palmer, was seen hugging a friend on the court house steps following the conviction.

She said in her own statement of the long-running case: ‘It took a lot of time. It took a lot of patience. It was hard. 

‘The jurors took their time to really understand that Breonna deserved justice,’ the woman concluded

Minutes before, several members of the 12-person jury were seen in tears – when the verdict was read around 9:30pm.

Earlier, they had indicated to the judge how they had been deadlocked on the charge of using excessive force.

The same charge had stumped a separate jury in 2022, who went on to acquit Hankison, 48, on state charges of wanton endangerment months before.

As the new jury remained deadlocked Thursday, members had sent correspondence to the judge asking whether they needed to know if Taylor was alive when Hankison fired shots into Taylor’s Kentucky apartment. 

Hankison had argued he was firing to protect his fellow officers from Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, who shot at him and other officers as they broke down the woman’s door.

His attorney Don Malarcik told jurors it was on prosecutors to ‘prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Ms. Taylor was alive’ when Hankison fired the shots – leading to a point of contention between jurors.

Following the inquiry, U.S. District Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings urged them to keep deliberating – granting them the opportunity to air the long-awaited decision on Friday.  

The six-man, six-woman jury went on to deliberate for several hours, before resurfacing Friday to give their decision.

Shortly before, Malarcik spoke at length about the role of Taylor’s boyfriend, who fired a shot that hit former Sgt. John Mattingly at the door. Mattingly went on to retire the following year. He was not charged in the case.

Hankison, meanwhile, testified that when Walker fired, he moved away, rounded the corner of the apartment unit, and fired into Taylor’s glass door and a window.

Other officers at the door also returned Walker’s fire, hitting and killing Taylor, who was in a hallway.

Hankison’s lawyers used this during closing statements to argue their client was acting properly – ‘in a very tense, very chaotic environment’ they said lasted about 12 seconds. 

They emphasized how Hankison’s shots didn’t hit anyone, and how it had been bullets fired by other officers that claimed the woman’s life.

The cop-turned-convict also said Walker never tried to come to the door or turn the lights on as police were knocking – instead choosing himself and hid in the dark.

‘Brett Hankison was 12 inches away from being shot by Kenneth Walker,’ Malarcik insisted, while prosecutors maintained Hankison had acted recklessly when he fired 10 shots into doors and a window where he couldn’t even see a target.

‘[Hankison] violated one of the most fundamental rules of deadly force,’ attorneys enlisted by the federal government said in their own closing arguments Wednesday.

‘If they cannot see the person they’re shooting at, they cannot pull the trigger,’ they insisted, eventually swaying the jury to discern there was no doubt the officer used excessive force.

Meanwhile, neither of the officers who shot Taylor – Mattingly and former Detective Myles Cosgrove – were charged in the victim’s death. 

Joshua Jaynes and Sgt. Kyle Meany Meany ran a police unit that focused on aggressive drug investigations. 

Police served five warrants simultaneously the night of the Taylor raid, four of them in a concentrated area where drug activity was suspected, and the fifth at Taylor’s apartment nearly 10 miles away. 

The warrant for Taylor’s house alleged that she was receiving packages for a suspected drug dealer who was a former boyfriend. 

The warrant, signed by Jaynes and approved by Meany, said Jaynes had confirmed with the postal service that packages for the ex-boyfriend, Jamarcus Glover, were going to Taylor’s apartment. Investigators later learned that Jaynes had not confirmed that with the postal inspector. 

Jaynes was fired in January 2021 for violating department standards in the preparation of a search warrant execution and for being ‘untruthful’ in the Taylor warrant. 

Jaynes and Goodlett also allegedly conspired to falsify an investigative document that was written after Taylor’s death, prosecutors said. Feds also allege that Meany, who testified at Hankison’s first trial, lied to the FBI during its investigation.  

As for Hankison, his conviction carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. He will be sentenced on March 12 by US District Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings.