Judge Sentences Ex-Officer in Breonna Taylor Raid to Nearly 3 Years in Prison

A federal judge in Kentucky on Monday sentenced a former Louisville police officer involved in the fatal raid of Breonna Taylor’s home to nearly three years in prison, in a sharp rebuke to the Trump administration, which had requested he serve only one day behind bars.

In November, a federal jury in Kentucky convicted the former officer, Brett Hankison, of one count of violating Ms. Taylor’s civil rights by using excessive force in discharging several shots through her window during a botched drug raid in 2020. Even though none of the 10 shots he fired hit Ms. Taylor, Mr. Hankison, who is white, was the only officer to be charged for his actions during the botched operation.

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Last week, Harmeet K. Dhillon, the assistant attorney general for civil rights, asked the judge in the case, Rebecca Grady Jennings, to sentence Mr. Hankison to a single day in prison — essentially the brief time he had served when he was charged — and three years of supervised release.

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{snip} In 2023, a judge declared a mistrial in Mr. Hankison’s trial on federal civil rights charges after jurors failed to reach a unanimous verdict. He was previously acquitted of similar state charges.

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Prosecutors argued that Mr. Hankison did not have legal justification to use deadly force when he fired through a window and sliding glass door covered by blinds during the raid, ultimately hitting a neighboring apartment.

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