A Division of Justice spokesperson stated the federal company will think about all “out there choices” to presumably retry former Louisville police officer Brett Hankison for his half within the botched raid that ended within the capturing loss of life of Breonna Taylor after a jury failed to achieve a unanimous verdict in his trial.
The absence of a verdict prompted the choose to successfully finish the court docket proceedings in a mistrial. This federal trial marks the second try carried out by prosecutors to convict Hankison for his function within the raid.
The primary state trial led to Hankison’s acquittal in 2022 after he was charged with three counts of felony wanton endangerment for firing pictures that went right into a neighboring condo the place three folks, together with a 3-year-old baby, have been current. None of these neighbors have been harm. Hankison was the one officer to be charged by the state for his function within the raid.
A Kentucky federal grand jury indicted him later that yr for civil rights violations in opposition to Taylor, her boyfriend, and her neighbors as a result of prosecutors alleged he used extreme power with out authorized trigger by firing pictures haphazardly, thus endangering civilians within the line of fireplace.
Three different officers additionally confronted expenses for his or her function in crafting the search warrant. One in every of them pleaded responsible to falsifying that warrant in an try to cowl up the circumstances of what transpired the evening of the raid.
A non-criminal investigation the Justice Division launched after Taylor’s loss of life discovered that the Louisville Police Division exercised a sample of utilizing extreme power and conducting unreasonable search and seizures, which finally resulted in the newest expenses in opposition to Hankison and the opposite officers. Taylor’s loss of life generated nationwide consciousness of the hazards of no-knock warrants, and a few police departments have phased out the follow within the years since.
Taylor, an emergency medical technician, was sleeping at house along with her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, when officers stormed the condo, utilizing a battering ram to interrupt down the door. The noise woke the couple, and Walker fired a single shot from a handgun he lawfully possessed, believing intruders broke into the home. Hankison and three officers returned dozens of pictures. Ballistics stories decided that one of many pictures fired by former officer Myles Cosgrove killed Taylor.
Nevertheless, prosecutors decided that Cosgrove and the third officer, retired police sergeant Jonathan Mattingly, have been justified in returning hearth after Mattingly was shot within the leg. They argued that Hankison fired blindly into the constructing.
Not one of the officers concerned within the raid have been ever charged with Breonna Taylor’s loss of life.
Hours into jury deliberations, U.S. District Choose Rebecca Grady Jennings acquired a notice from jurors stating they have been at an deadlock. She pressed them to proceed to work to come back to a unanimous choice, however they ended up deadlocking after lastly deciding they might not fairly and actually come to a verdict.
“I feel the totality of the circumstances could also be past restore on this case,” Choose Jennings stated. “They’ve a disagreement that they can not get previous.”
Earlier than the mistrial was declared, the lead federal prosecutor, Michael Songer, stated in court docket that it could take “monumental assets … to retry this case.“
It’s unclear what subsequent steps the Division of Justice may take, however a spokesperson did say that federal prosecutors are “actively contemplating all of our out there choices.”
Taylor’s household’s lawyer, Lonita Baker, feels assured that Hankison will seem in entrance of a jury once more.
“The attorneys from the Division of Justice did point out that it’s their intention to retry Brett Hankison on this case once more,” Baker stated.
A listening to is about for Dec. 13 to find out if the federal authorities will deliver Hankison to trial once more.
