Louisville, Kentucky, police did a lot of questionable things before, during and after the March 2020 drug raid that killed Breonna Taylor, 26-year-old EMT and aspiring nurse. Their failings included misleading and legally deficient reporting search warrant affidavit; a reckless person, in the middle of the night home invasion it led to a deadly confrontation; and a conspiracy to cover up the false statements that preceded the raid. But the most disconcerting aspect of the incident was Detective Brett Hankison’s decision to shoot blindly 10 shots from outside Taylor’s apartment through a bedroom window and sliding glass door covered by blinds and curtains.

On Friday, after deliberating more than 20 hours over three days, a federal jury in Louisville sentenced Hankison of willfully violating Taylor’s Fourth Amendment rights under color of law by firing five bullets through the bedroom window. Although none of the bullets struck Taylor, federal prosecutors argued that Hankison endangered her life by unlawfully using deadly force.

Because the charge “involved the use of a dangerous weapon and attempted murder”, Hankison faces a maximum sentence of life in prison. The jury acquitted him of a second count under the same law, that he violated the constitutional rights of Taylor’s neighbors, who were endangered by the bullets that entered their apartment.

Hankison, who was licensed from his job with the Louisville Metro Police Department in June 2020, is the only officer directly involved in the raid to be convicted of a crime. In March 2022, a state jury acquitted him of wanton endangerment, a charge based on the same use of force. Hankison was indicted on federal civil rights charges five months later. Last year, his first prosecution on these charges ended in a mistrial after jurors failed to reach a verdict.

In his second federal trial, Hankison again testified that he was trying to help two fellow officers inside Taylor’s apartment, Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly and Detective Myles Cosgrove, thinking they were under heavy fire. Here’s what was really happening, as described in a Justice Department report. press release On Hankison’s conviction:

During the execution of the warrant at Taylor’s home, the officers knocked on Taylor’s door and announced themselves as police around 12:45 a.m. No one opened the door and the officers saw no indication that anyone in the house was awake or had heard their announcement. . Police then broke down the door and Taylor’s boyfriend, believing intruders were breaking in, fired his handgun once at the officers, two of whom returned fire, striking and killing Taylor.

Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, always said he didn’t hear any announcements and didn’t know the intruders who broke into the apartment were police officers. He was initially charged with attempted murder of a police officer, but prosecutors abandoned this accusation two months later, implicitly admitting that Walker had a strong case for self-defense. The bullet he fired hit Mattingly in the leg. In response, Mattingly and Cosgrove fired a total of 22 bullets into a dark hallway, where Taylor, who was unarmed, was standing near Walker.

Hankison, who could not see what was happening because he had moved from the door to the side of the apartment, said he mistook the hail of bullets from his colleagues for shots from a semi-automatic rifle. “I saw these windows and doors light up,” he said. said. “It looked like there was a strobe light in there…In my mind, you’re shooting an AR-15, and it looks like it’s getting closer and getting louder.” He added that it “sounded like a semi-automatic rifle coming down the hall and executing everyone.”

Despite this, Hankison’s response is difficult to understand, since he had no way of knowing who might be hit by his bullets. The associated press Remarks that “several witnesses, including the Louisville police chief,” testified that Hankison “violated Louisville police policy that requires officers to identify a target before shooting.”

Defense attorney Don Malarcik nonetheless insisted Hankison did nothing wrong. “He did exactly what he was supposed to do,” Malarcik said jurors during his final argument. “He was acting to save lives.”

That’s not the case, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Songer. Hankison “violated one of the most fundamental rules of deadly force,” Songer said. said the jury. “If they can’t see the person they’re shooting at, they can’t pull the trigger.”

Cosgrove, who fired 16 bullets into the apartment, including the one that killed Taylor, did something similar, according to former Louisville interim police chief Yvette Gentry. Nobility canned Cosgrove in December 2020, saying he fired “in three separate directions,” which indicated he “did not identify a target” and instead “fired in a manner consistent with gunfire.” suppression, which is in direct contradiction to our training, values ​​and policy.”

Like Hankison, Cosgrove said he mistook the police shots (Mattingly’s) for incoming bullets. He said According to investigators, he was “overwhelmed by flashes of light and darkness,” leading him to believe “these gunshots are always happening because of these bright lights.” Cosgrove, who later found work as a Carroll County, Kentucky, sheriff’s deputy suggested he fired his gun without thinking. “I just felt like I shot,” he said. “It’s like a surreal thing. If you told me I didn’t do something in that moment, I would believe you. If you told me I did something, I would probably believe you too. “

An investigation by Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, however concluded that Cosgrove and Mattingly had fired in self-defense, meaning the criminal charges were not warranted. The fact that Walker Also appears to have fired in self-defense, underlines the carelessness “dynamic entry” tactics that police reflexively used in this case.

Taylor’s death inspired many local events and became a flagship exhibit of the Black Lives Matter movement, alongside the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis two months later. In September 2020, the City of Louisville agreed to a $12 million settlement of a lawsuit filed by Taylor’s family. But except for the failed prosecution of Hankison, the raid did not result in any state charges.

The Department of Justice, on the other hand, obtained indictments against Hankison and three other current or former Louisville officers connected to the raid: former detective Joshua Jaynes, who filed the search warrant affidavit; Sgt. Kyle Meany, who signed it; and Detective Kelly Goodlett, who allegedly “conspired with Jaynes to falsify the search warrant for Taylor’s home and subsequently conceal their actions.”

Jaynes’s affidavitwhich linked Taylor to a former boyfriend’s drug dealing on the basis of little more than guilt by association, “contained false and misleading statements, omitted material facts, relied on outdated information and did not was not supported by probable cause,” the Justice Department said. said. Jaynes, like Hankison, is accused of willfully violating Taylor’s Fourth Amendment rights. The former detective, who was licensed in December 2020 for lying in his affidavit, is also accused of falsify records in a federal investigation and with conspiracy for “agreeing with another detective to cover up the false affidavit after Taylor’s death by writing a false letter of investigation and making false statements to criminal investigators.”

Meany faces the same civil rights charge. He is also accused of make a false statement to federal investigators by saying police requested a search warrant for Taylor’s apartment because the police department’s SWAT unit requested one.

Goodlett, the detective who allegedly conspired with Jaynes, pleaded guilty in August 2022, a few weeks after his indictment. Jaynes and Meany have not yet been sentenced. Last August, a federal judge rejected strengthened the civil rights charges against them, rejecting the claim that their alleged misconduct “involved the use of a dangerous weapon” or “resulted in Taylor’s death.” Jaynes and Meany were re-indicted in light of this decision last month.

“Brett Hankison was convicted by a jury of his peers for willfully depriving Breonna Taylor of her constitutional rights,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. said Friday. “His use of deadly force was unlawful and placed Ms. Taylor in danger.” Although “this verdict is an important step toward accountability for the violation of Breonna Taylor’s civil rights,” Garland added, “justice for Ms. Taylor’s loss is a task beyond human capacity.”