Ex-Kentucky officer found not guilty of endangering neighbours during raid that killed Breonna Taylor
CBC
A former Kentucky police officer was found not guilty Thursday on charges he endangered neighbours the night he fired into Breonna Taylor's apartment during a botched drug raid that resulted in Taylor's death.
The panel of eight men and four women delivered its verdict for Brett Hankison about three hours after it took the case following closing arguments from prosecution and defence attorneys.
None of the officers involved in the March 13, 2020, raid were charged with Taylor's death, and Hankison did not fire any of the bullets that killed the 26-year-old Black woman. His acquittal likely closes the door on the possibility of state criminal charges against any of the officers involved in the raid.
Taylor's mother, Tamika Palmer, and a group of friends and family left quickly without commenting after the verdict.
Hankison did not appear outside the courtroom after the verdict was read. But his attorney Stewart Mathews said he and his client were "thrilled."
Asked what might have swayed the jury, Mathews replied, "I think it was absolutely the fact that he was doing his job as a police officer."
Assistant Kentucky Attorney General Barbara Maines Whaley said she respected the jury's verdict but had no further comment.
Prosecutors stressed in opening statements that the case wasn't about Taylor's death or the police decisions that led to the raid. Jurors were shown a single image of her body, barely discernible at the end of the hallway.
Taylor had been settling down for bed when officers arrived at her door. She was shot multiple times in her hallway and died at the scene.
Protesters filled the streets for months after Kentucky Attorney General David Cameron's office declined to seek charges against any of the officers in connection to Taylor's death.
Her name, along with those of George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery — Black men who died in encounters with police and white pursuers — became rallying cries during racial justice protests seen across the U.S. in 2020.
Sadiqa Reynolds, president and CEO of the Louisville Urban League, said she was not surprised by the verdict. Black residents of the city, she explained, had already been "experiencing a certain amount of frustration," because no officer had been charged for Taylor's death.
"I think there are a lot of people who are disappointed. It is very disheartening, but I have to tell you, it's just not surprising," she said. "It just doesn't feel like an optimistic day for policing, for Black people, for our entire community."
Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer said the jury's verdict added to the "frustration and anger of many over the inability to find more accountability for the tragic events of March 13, 2020."
