U.S. District Court Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings declared a mistrial after a jury deadlocked over whether to acquit or convict former LMPD Detective Brett Hankison.
Hankison was tried for violating the Constitutional rights of Breonna Taylor, her boyfriend, and three neighbors in the adjoining apartment on March 13, 2020, during a raid at Taylor’s apartment when he fired through two covered windows.
His bullets shattered furniture and wall hangings and punched through the drywall into the neighboring apartment, but did not injure anyone. He was shooting at what he testified was a figure holding an AR-15 rifle illuminated by muzzle flashes.
His shots followed officers returning fire at Kenneth Walker, who fired a single shot at police when an officer burst open the front door to serve a search warrant. His single shot struck Sgt. John Mattingly in the leg.
Mattingly and Detective Myles Cosgrove returned fire. Cosgrove’s shots killed Breonna Taylor.
The government described Hankison’s actions as extreme and brought in other police officers to testify against Hankison’s actions.
The defense said Hankinson was reacting as any normal police officer would, trying to save his fellow officers.
Federal prosecutors have not announced whether they will seek to retry Hankison.
The government has two other cases pending against former officers Joshua Jaynes and Kyle Meany.
A third case against Kelly Hannah Goodlett awaits sentencing after she accepted a plea deal with the government in exchange for testifying.
Source: WAVE
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