Four years to the day after Breonna Taylor’s death, federal prosecutors are moving forward with a re-trial of one of the officers involved in the botched raid that ended her life.
At a status conference Wednesday, U.S. District Court Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings scheduled Brett Hankison’s final pre-trial hearing for September 13th. His re-trial is scheduled to begin on October 15th.
In November of last year, Hankinson was tried for violating the Constitutional rights of Breonna Taylor, her boyfriend, and three neighbors when he fired through two covered windows during the raid.
Prosecutors argued he used excessive force when he shot into the apartment complex blindly. Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, had fired at officers executing the search, claiming he thought they were intruders.
Hankison’s bullets shattered furniture and wall hangings and shot through the drywall into the neighboring apartment, but did not injure anyone.
Ultimately, the jury couldn’t come to a verdict and the judge declared a mistrial. Now, federal prosecutors are attempting to convict Hankison once again.
Meanwhile, federal cases against two other former Louisville Metro Police officers involved in the raid are still pending. Three other officers were charged by the FBI in connection to Taylor’s death: Joshua Jaynes, Kyle Meany, and Kelly Hanna Goodlett.
Jaynes is accused of lying on the warrant affidavit used to search Taylor’s home when he wrote that he had verified through a US Postal Inspector that Taylor’s ex-boyfriend, Jamarcus Glover, had been receiving packages at her apartment.
Jaynes denied that this was a lie and said he had verified the information through LMPD Sergeant Jon Mattingly.
Meany is accused of approving the affidavit even though he knew it was falsified. Both are still set to face trial, although their trial dates have still not been set.
In August of 2022, Goodlett pled guilty to one count of conspiracy as part of a plea agreement.
She was accused of meeting with Jaynes, her partner in the case, about what they were going to tell investigators about the warrant after Taylor’s death.
Goodlett will no longer be able to work in law enforcement, and she is still awaiting sentencing.
Source: WAVE
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