A federal jury found former Louisville police detective Brett Hankison guilty of depriving Breonna Taylor of her civil rights during a raid of her home on March 13, 2020.
It is the only conviction to date of an officer who participated in executing the search warrant, which later shown to be based on faulty information.
The verdict came hours after jurors indicated they were deadlocked on this charge, one of two first brought by the United States Department of Justice in mid-2022.
Taylor's mother, Tamika Palmer, cried when the verdict was read. Some jurors were also crying. Hankison wiped away a tear, but did not react much beyond that.
He was not taken into custody and will be sentenced at a later, as yet unscheduled date.
He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Earlier in the night, the jury found Hankison not guilty of violating the civil rights of Taylor’s neighbors. His bullets traveled into their home during the botched raid on Taylor’s apartment.
Police shot and killed Taylor, a 26-year-old Black woman who was unarmed, sparking mass protests for racial justice and police accountability.
Police broke down Taylor’s front door during the middle-of-the-night raid, which was connected to a broader narcotics investigation in which she was not a target. Investigators did not find drugs or cash in her home.
When the police burst in, her boyfriend shot one bullet at the people he thought to be intruders, striking one officer in the leg.
Two officers fired back through the front door, while Hankison went around to the side of the building and shot 10 times through a covered window and door. He did not shoot anyone but sent bullets into Taylor’s apartment and the neighboring one.
Federal prosecutors argued he should not have shot without being able to see a target, while Hankison’s defense said he made a “split-second” decision because he thought officers were in danger.
Deliberations drawn out
It seemed possible that the case could end again in a mistrial, after jurors expressed concern that they couldn't reach a unanimous verdict at various points on Friday. Each time, U.S. District Court Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings urged them to return to deliberations.
A year ago, she declared a mistrial in the case when the 12 jurors could not reach a verdict.
On Thursday, the second day of deliberations, the jury asked Jennings if they needed to know if Taylor was alive when Hankison fired several shots into her apartment from beyond a covered sliding glass door and bedroom window. Jennings said the jurors’ instructions described Taylor as a “living person,” and the jury’s decision should reflect that fact.
Their question alluded to a line of defense presented earlier in the week, in which attorneys said Taylor may have died before Hankison shot into her apartment. They claimed he could not have violated her rights if she was already dead.
Prosecutors argued that Taylor only had to be alive when Hankison first fired for him to have deprived her of her civil rights.
It is not known for certain what time Taylor died. The coroner estimated her time of death to be eight minutes after police broke down her door.
Early Friday afternoon, the jury told Jennings they believed they were “unable” to come to a unanimous decision. Jennings responded by urging jurors to continue deliberating in an attempt to reach a verdict.
She encouraged jurors to stay “open-minded” and impartial to hearing fellow jurors’ opinions.
“Please keep in mind how very important it is for you to reach unanimous agreement,” Jennings said. “If you cannot agree, and if this case is tried again, there is no reason to believe that any new evidence will be presented, or that the next 12 jurors will be any more conscientious and impartial than you are.”
Hankison is the only officer who took part in the raid to be indicted on federal charges. In 2022, the DOJ secured a guilty plea from Kelly Goodlett, who helped secure the faulty search warrant for Taylor’s apartment. The department also indicted two other officers related to the warrant, which contained falsified information. Those men, Kyle Meany and Joshua Jaynes, pleaded not guilty and have not yet gone to trial.
In 2022, a Jefferson County jury acquitted Hankison of state-level felony wanton endangerment for bullets he fired into the occupied neighboring apartment.
The DOJ undertook a major investigation into the LMPD following Taylor's killing and found officers routinely violate Louisville residents' civil rights. Louisville is expected to enter a consent decree — which will mandate reforms — with the federal agency this year.
This story was updated.
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