BREAKING: Former Louisville police officer charged in Breonna Taylor raid sentenced to 33 months in prison

Former Kentucky police officer Brett Hankison, who was convicted of a civil rights offense after shooting into an apartment where Breonna Taylor and her boyfriend were in March 2020, has been sentenced to 33 months in prison, despite the shots not hitting or injuring anyone.

During a drug raid at Taylor's apartment, her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, opened fire on police, sparking the shootout. Hankison shot into the apartment, but hit nobody and did not injure anyone. Walker was found responsible for her death.

Hankison was charged by prosecutors in 2022 with endangering the lives of Taylor, Walker, and some of her neighbors, according to Fox 7. The case went to mistrial when jurors could not reach a unanimous verdict in 2023, but he was retried on the charges again in 2024 and was convicted of using excessive force.

The DOJ said, "Both counts [in state trial] arose from the same nucleus of facts: believing the officers were under attack, Defendant Hankison ran to the side of the apartment unit and fired blindly into Ms. Taylor’s home," the memorandum stated. "Again, none of those shots wounded anyone. After a recent review of many § 242 cases, counsel is unaware of another prosecution in which a police officer has been charged with depriving the rights of another person under the Fourth Amendment for returning fire and not injuring anyone."

The DOJ also recommended that Hankison get one day in his sentence, a day that he would already be credited with from his original booking and made apparent criticism of the Biden DOJ in the filing, writing, “In this case, two federal trials were ultimately necessary to obtain a unanimous verdict of guilt. But even then, the jury convicted on only one count, despite the fact that the elements of the charge and underlying conduct are essentially the same."

Hankison is the only officer in the raid who fired his gun who has been criminally charged. The other two have been found to be justified in shooting back at Walker after he shot one of the police officers in the leg, leading to return fire and Taylor’s death.

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