Breonna Taylor Shooting Trial: Ex-Police Officer Declared Not Guilty of Wanton Endangerment

On Thursday, a Kentucky jury found a former police officer not guilty of endangering neighbors when he fired rounds into an apartment during a narcotics raid in 2020 that resulted in Breonna Taylor's death.

Following final remarks from the prosecution and defense counsel, the panel of eight men and four women reached a decision roughly three hours after taking the case. After the ruling, Hankison was shaken but also relieved. Juniyah Palmer, Taylor's sister, shook her head.

Jury Finds Ex-Officer Brett Hankison Not Guilty on All Counts

During the raid that left Taylor, a 26-year-old Black woman, dead, Hankison was charged with three counts of wanton endangerment for shooting through sliding-glass side doors and a window of Taylor's apartment. Hankison's lawyers never disputed the ballistics data, but claimed he fired ten shots because he believed his fellow policemen were "being executed."

Hankison did not leave the courtroom after the verdict was given, but his lawyer, Stewart Mathews, said he and his client were "thrilled." Barbara Maines Whaley, an assistant Kentucky attorney general, said she appreciated the jury's decision but had no additional comment. After the verdict, Taylor's mother, Tamika Palmer, and a group of friends and family members exited without saying anything, CBS News reported.

Prosecutors said they respected the judgment, which came after three hours of deliberation but refused to speak to the media further. Hankison risked one to five years in jail if convicted of each offense.

The accusations arose from a bungled raid in which Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency medical technician, was tragically shot in her own house by police. Her death sparked broad demonstrations over how the justice system handles Black people, as well as specific critiques about the hazards of no-knock warrants, following the murders of George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery.

Prosecutors summoned 26 witnesses in court over five days to argue that Hankison fired a blind shot into a window from outside the apartment in a direction perpendicular to the point of origin. According to authorities, his bullets traveled into Taylor's apartment, endangering a man, a pregnant lady, and her 5-year-old boy who resided next door.

During her closing remarks, Assistant Attorney General Barbara Whaley stated that the other policemen in the group, aside from Mattingly and Cosgrove, who were in the line of fire, made the proper decision not to shoot. Hankison, she claimed, was shooting "without a target" and hence shouldn't be firing, according to CNN.

Why is Brett Hankison Found Not Guilty in Breonna Taylor Raid?

Hankison, who was dismissed by the Louisville Metro Police Department for firing blindly during the raid, said it was the first time he had used his weapon in the line of duty since joining the force in 2003.

As Taylor's door swung open, Hankison, a 20-year veteran K-9 officer assigned to manage a drug-sniffing dog, claimed he was positioned behind an officer with a battering ram and could see the dark silhouette of a person 'in a shooting posture' with what seemed to be an AR-15 weapon.

The pistol of Walker, who told Louisville Police detectives he assumed intruders were breaking in, was the only weapon discovered. Investigators decided that Walker fired the shot that struck Sgt. John Mattingly in the leg, and that he, along with officer Myles Cosgrove, returned fire. The cops fired a total of 32 shots. Walker was unharmed.

Other cops in the vicinity of Cosgrove and Mattingly opted not to fire, according to Whaley, and there was no evidence of bullets fired from a long rifle at the site. Though prosecutors stressed in opening comments that the case was not about Taylor's death or the police judgments that led to the March 13, 2020, raid, the issue loomed large over the trial. Jurors were shown a single photograph of her body at the end of the hallway, hardly recognizable.

Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency medical worker, was shot numerous times and killed at the scene after authorities smashed through her door.
Prosecutors for Kentucky Attorney General David Cameron wanted a grand jury to indict Hankison on allegations of endangering Taylor's neighbors, but they declined to arrest any cops involved in Taylor's death. Protesters who had been marching for months were incensed.

Taylor's name, along with that of George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery, two black males killed in interactions with police and white pursuers, were rallying cries during global racial justice rallies in 2020, as per Daily Mail.

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