A jury on Friday found a former Louisville, Kentucky, police officer guilty of violating Breonna Taylor’s civil rights in a botched search of her home that resulted in her death, NBC affiliate Louisville’s WAVE reported. It was reported that.
The jury also acquitted Brett Hankison of a second charge of violating the civil rights of Taylor’s neighbor.
Taylor, 26, was shot and killed by police during a raid on March 13, 2020, but Hankison was not shot and no charges were filed in her death.
Hankison, 48, fired 10 shots into Taylor’s apartment, but none of them hit anyone. Some of his bullets went into the apartment next door.
Taylor’s mother, Tamika Palmer, said she was speechless and didn’t know what to think as she read the verdict.
“I’m grateful. I’m thankful to God,” Palmer told reporters Friday night. She thanked the jurors for taking the time to understand the case.
Hankison was being retried by the Justice Department in November 2023 after the first jury deadlocked on both counts, resulting in a mistrial.
In 2020, police visited Taylor’s apartment looking for evidence in a drug investigation involving her ex-boyfriend, who was living at a different address at the time.
Taylor’s boyfriend fired one shot at the front door because he thought an intruder was breaking in, U.S. Attorney Merrick Garland said.
Two officers “immediately fired a total of 22 shots into the apartment,” one of which struck Taylor in the chest, killing him.
Hankison testified that he had to act quickly because he believed his fellow officers were going to be executed. Prosecutors accused him of firing blindly.
In the trial, which lasted about two weeks, the jury found Hankison not guilty of violating the rights of his neighbors, before returning to consider the charges against Taylor himself.
A jury later returned a guilty verdict on Taylor’s count, WAVE reported around 9:30 p.m. According to the Associated Press, some jurors wept as they read the verdict.
The charges Hankison was convicted of carry a maximum penalty of life in prison.
Taylor’s murder sparked outrage across the country. President Joe Biden called her death a tragedy and said the country must pass meaningful police reform.
In response to the raid, the Louisville City Council passed Breonna’s Law in 2020, which bans no-knock warrants by police.
Hankison is facing three trials in two years.
Hankison and three other officers or former officers were indicted federally in 2022, but Hankison was the only one of the group who was present at the time of the raid.
Joshua Jaynes, Kyle Meany and Kelly Goodlett sought a warrant to search Taylor’s home, even though they knew police had no probable cause to do so. was accused of
Goodlett, a former Louisville police detective, pleaded guilty in August 2022 to one count of conspiracy. She admitted conspiring with Jaynes to forge an affidavit for the Taylor warrant and lie to investigators to cover it up.
Sentencing is scheduled for April 29, according to court records.
Jaynes and Meany still face charges of deprivation of rights under the law.
Jaynes is also charged with conspiracy and falsifying records in the federal investigation. Mr. Meaney is also charged with making false statements to federal investigators. Both have maintained their innocence.
The two were indicted Oct. 1 after a federal judge in August dismissed the felony charge in their previous indictment.
No one has been directly charged with state crimes in Taylor’s death. A state grand jury declined to indict the officer who fired the fatal shot.
Hankinson was charged with three state counts of wanton endangerment for allegedly firing shots into his neighbor’s apartment. He was acquitted in 2022.
The Associated Press contributed.
