by Sharelle B. McNair
July 18, 2025
Hankinson was the one concerned officer who fired pictures to be charged and convicted of any crime, whereas the officers who fired pictures putting Taylor have been by no means charged.
The Division of Justice (DOJ) underneath the Trump administration makes an attempt to make a mockery of the Breonna Taylor case by recommending former Louisville officer, Brett Hankison, who fired 10 pictures via Taylor’s coated glass door and window, serve someday in jail, NBC Information reviews.
Whereas none of Hankison’s botched pictures hit Taylor, in November 2024, he was convicted of deprivation of rights underneath coloration of regulation after a number of bullets traveled via the wall and into an residence subsequent door. A sentencing memo filed by the DOJ learn, “there isn’t a want for a jail sentence to guard the general public from the defendant,” after a February 2025 ruling, after the proof discovered Taylor was nonetheless alive when Hankison fired the primary 5 bullets.
As an alternative, the memo, signed by Robert J. Keenan, senior counsel for the Civil Rights Division, pushed for the previous Louisville Metro Division officer to serve someday behind bars — the identical size of time he spent in jail when he was first booked on costs.
In response to USA Right now, Hankison is scheduled to be sentenced July 21, going through a most sentence of life in jail. A pre-sentence report from the USA Probation Workplace really useful a jail sentence between 11.25 and 14 years. Nevertheless, the DOJ labeled the advice as being incorrectly calculated and “extreme.”
In fact, the memo pointed the blame finger at former President Joe Biden, claiming the ex-officer ought to have by no means been prosecuted on civil rights costs in any respect, wherein he was acquitted. “Certainly, affordable minds may disagree as as to if Hankison’s conduct constituted a seizure underneath the Fourth Modification within the first place,” the memo continues.
“… And affordable minds actually may disagree whether or not, even when Hankison’s conduct did represent a seizure, a prosecution underneath this statute ought to have been introduced underneath these circumstances in any respect.”
However advocates on social media say in any other case. Information of the one-day suggestion despatched waves via social apps, reminding individuals who keep in mind the 2020 ordeal that the justice system turns a blind eye to Black victims of police brutality. “A slap on the wrist for the officer who killed Breonna Taylor. This nation hates Black folks,” @queenie4rmnola wrote.
Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) spoke concerning the case replace, and the DOJ is labeling it as “accountability.” “In the future. That’s the slap within the face the DOJ is looking “accountability” in Breonna Taylor’s case. Now they need to act like civil rights costs have been an excessive amount of? Please be for actual. If you happen to’re questioning how little they worth Black lives—look no additional,” the congresswoman stated.
Taylor’s dying sparked further protests all through the U.S. within the Black Lives Matter motion whereas the nation was battling the COVID-19 pandemic. Hankison was the one officer concerned who fired pictures to be charged and convicted of any crime, whereas the opposite officers who fired pictures, striking Taylor, have been by no means charged.
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