Ex-officer sentenced nearly three years for Breonna Taylor raid
A former Kentucky police officer, Brett Hankison, was sentenced to nearly three years (33 months) in prison for using excessive force during the 2020 raid that resulted in the death of medical worker Breonna Taylor. U.S. District Judge Rebecca grady Jennings issued the sentence despite the Department of justice recommending no prison time, calling the DOJ’s stance inappropriate for treating hankison’s actions as minor. During the raid, Hankison fired blindly, missing everyone, while Taylor was fatally shot by other officers responding after her boyfriend fired from inside the apartment. Hankison was found guilty of violating Taylor’s civil rights and is the only officer sentenced in connection with her death. The case, alongside George Floyd’s murder, galvanized nationwide protests under the Black Lives Matter movement. Civil rights attorneys acknowledged the sentence as a step toward accountability, though not as severe as hoped.
Ex-officer sentenced nearly three years for excessive force in Breonna Taylor raid
A federal judge sentenced a former Kentucky police officer on Monday to nearly three years in prison for using excessive force during a 2020 raid in which medical worker Breonna Taylor was fatally shot.
United States District Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings handed down a 33-month sentence to Brett Hankison after the Department of Justice recommended the ex-officer in the Louisville Metro Police Department face no prison time. The judge said the DOJ memo was “incongruous and inappropriate” because it treated Hankison’s actions as “an inconsequential crime.”
In March 2020, Hankison participated in a raid on Taylor’s apartment that led to the 26-year-old woman’s death. Hankison blindly fired 10 shots during the raid, but the bullets didn’t hit anyone. Taylor was shot by two other officers, who responded in kind after her boyfriend opened fire from inside the apartment. The officers believed Taylor’s boyfriend was hiding narcotics in her home.
Hankison, who was found guilty of violating Taylor’s civil rights, is the only officer to be sentenced over Taylor’s death. None of the other officers who returned fire were charged.
Alongside George Floyd’s murder by a police officer in Minnesota, the death of Taylor, who was black, contributed to sparking nationwide Black Lives Matter riots in the summer of 2020.
In a sentencing memo issued last week, the DOJ argued that because Hankison wasn’t directly responsible for Taylor’s death, additional prison time “would simply be unjust under these circumstances.”
The department said while Hankison’s “response in these fraught circumstances was unreasonable given the benefit of hindsight, that unreasonable response did not kill or wound Breonna Taylor, her boyfriend, her neighbors, defendant’s fellow officers, or anyone else.”
The memo sought only one day of incarceration for the defendant.
Judge Jennings dismissed the DOJ’s recommendation, which was signed by Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon.
Hankison faces 33 months in prison and three years of supervised probation, although he will not report directly to prison yet. The Bureau of Prisons must first determine where and when the defendant starts his sentence.
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Though he hoped Hankison would serve more time in prison for his actions, civil rights attorney Ben Crump celebrated the sentence imposed on the former officer.
“While today’s sentence is not what we had hoped for — nor does it fully reflect the severity of the harm caused — it is more than what the Department of Justice sought. That, in itself, is a statement,” Crump said, joined by attorneys Lonita Baker and Sam Aguiar. “The jury found Brett Hankison guilty, and that verdict deserved to be met with real accountability.”
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