Breonna Taylor's Civil Rights Were Violated by Ex-Louisville Officer, Jury Determines

Mar. 15, 2025

A Breonna Taylor art installation in Louisville, Kentucky on June 5, 2021.Photo:Jon Cherry/Getty

Jon Cherry/Getty

A federal jury has convicted a former Kentucky police detective of using excessive force onBreonna Taylorand depriving her of her civil rights.

According to reports from theAssociated Press,ABC NewsandLouisville Public Media, former detective Brett Hankison was convicted for his role in the botched 2020 drug raid in Louisville that ended with Taylor, a 26-year-old EMT who was asleep in her bed, dying from a gunshot wound.

The 12-person jury had cleared Hankison earlier on Friday, Nov. 1, of another charge accusing him of using excessive force on three of Taylor’s neighbors, ABC reported, before returning this guilty verdict around 9:30 p.m.

Hankison’s conviction is the only one so far among all of the officers who were involved in executing the search warrant, which was later shown to be based on faulty information, according to Louisville Public Media.

Former Louisville Police officer Brett Hankison in court on March 2, 2022.AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley, Pool

AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley, Pool

Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division addressed the courthouse crowd after the verdict was read, saying: “Breonna Taylor’s life mattered.”

“We hope the jury’s verdict recognizing this violation of Ms. Taylor’s civil and constitutional rights brings some small measure of comfort to her family and loved ones who have suffered so deeply from the tragic events of March 2020,” Clarke added, per the AP.

Taylor’s mother, Tamika Palmer, also spoke to the media after Hankison’s conviction. She wiped away tears as the verdict was read.

“Thank God, thank God that He covered 12 jurors who chose to do the right thing, who took their time to understand what was really going on and that Breonna deserved justice,” Palmer said, per Louisville Public Media.

“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,” Palmer added, per the AP.

Shortly after midnight on the night of March 13, 2020, Taylor — an aspiring nurse who had been working as an EMT — was in her apartment with her boyfriend Kenneth Walker when Louisville Metro Police officers executing ano-knock warrantcharged through the door. The warrant was connected to a narcotics investigation in which Taylor was not a suspect, and police did not find drugs or cash in her apartment.

Breonna Taylor.Breonna Taylor/instagram

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Neither of the officers who shot Taylor — former Sgt. John Mattingly and former Detective Myles Cosgrove — have been charged in her death, according to AP. Prosecutors said that they were both justified in returning fire, since Walker shot at them first.

This marked Hankison’s second trial in this case, after a judgedeclared a mistriallast year. Hankison also previouslyfaced three counts of wanton endangermentfor allegedly firing 10 bullets into Taylor’s apartment, but he wasacquitted of the chargesin March 2022.

Hankison is set to be sentenced on March 12, 2025, according to LPM. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.

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source: people.com