Brett Hankison Given 33-Month Jail Term

On Monday (July 21), a federal judge in Louisville, Kentucky, sentenced former Louisville police officer Brett Hankison to almost three years in prison for his role in the raid on EMT worker Breonna Taylor’s home, which took her life five years ago. The sentence was a rebuke of the request of the Trump administration’s request that Hankison receive a sentence of one day in prison.

District Court Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings received a letter from Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet K. Dhillon, which requested that Hankison only serve one day in prison (the amount of time he spent in jail when he was initially charged) and three years of supervised release. The insulting request sparked outrage from Taylor’s family and the community, resulting in protests outside of the federal courthouse in Louisville during the proceedings. Dhillon is a staunch ally of Trump and has worked with the Department of Justice to dismiss lawsuits against police officers in Louisville and Minneapolis, which were brought in the wake of Taylor’s murder and the murder of George Floyd that same year.

“Every American who believes in equal justice under the law should be outraged,” attorneys for the family said in a statement after the administration’s request. “Recommending just one day in prison sends the unmistakable message that white officers can violate the civil rights of Black Americans with near-total impunity.” The request is a new moment in the Trump administration’s culture war seeking to elimintate claims of discrimination against law enforcement.

Hankison was convicted last November of one count of violating Breonna Taylor’s civil rights through the use of excessive force by firing 10 shots through her window during a raid, which police claimed was to seize illegal drugs. During testimony, he claimed it was to protect fellow officers during the “no-knock” raid. His shots hit a neighboring apartment. Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, shot at the officers thinking they were intruders. Officers Myles Cosgrove and Jonathan Mattingly fired back, striking and killing Taylor.

“If I knew everything I knew today, I never would have fired my gun,” Hankison said to the Taylor family and her friends in court before sentencing, according to local CBS network WLKY. Two other officers, Kyle Meany and Joshua Jaynes, are awaiting trial on charges alleging that they falsified the warrant used for the botched raid on Taylor’s home. Cosgrove and Mattingly were never charged for their role in Taylor’s death.