Breonna Taylor.Photo: Breonna Taylor/instagram
A mistrial has been declared in the case of former Louisville Metro Police Department officer Brett Hankison, who was involved in the botched March 13, 2020, raid that resulted inthe death of Breonna Taylor.
Hankinson and two other officers,Myles Cosgroveand Jonathan Mattingly,entered Taylor’s residence on a “no-knock” warrantas part of a drug investigation.
While the person they were looking for did not end up living in the home, Taylor’s boyfriend,Kenneth Walker, thought it was a break-in and fired his gun.One of the officers was hit in the thigh, and the police fired back more than 20 shots.
Brett Hankison.Louisville Metro Police Department
Assault and attempted murder of a police officer charges against Walkerwere dismissed with prejudice in March 2021.
Hankison, however,faced three counts of wanton endangermentfor allegedly firing 10 bullets into Taylor’s apartment. Three of his shots pierced her apartment wall and entered a neighbor’s apartment, according to authorities. He wasacquitted of the chargesin March 2022.
In August 2022, two civil rights charges were brought against Hankison, alleging that he “willfully used unconstitutionally excessive force, while acting in his official capacity as an officer, when he fired his service weapon into Taylor’s apartment through a covered window and covered glass door.”
According to apress releaseat the time from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Public Affairs, “both counts allege that Hankison used a dangerous weapon and that his conduct involved an attempt to kill.”
Breonna Taylor.Instagram
According to theLouisville Courier-Journal, his trial began on Oct. 30, and a federal jury heard testimony “from around two dozen witnesses.” TheAssociated Pressreported that the 12-member jury told District Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings that they were at an impasse on Thursday afternoon.
Jennings asked the jurors to continue deliberating, but the judge later said there were “elevated voices” from the jury room during deliberations. Court security officials visited the room, the AP reports. Jurors said they were still deadlocked, causing Jennings to declare a mistrial.
Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up forPEOPLE’s free True Crime newsletterfor breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.According toNBC News, Hankison faced a maximum sentence of life in prison, and federal prosecutors can decide to go through a retrial.
source: people.com
