LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A federal jury on Friday cleared a former Kentucky police detective of a charge he violated the civil rights of Breonna Taylor's neighbors by using excessive force during a botched 2020 drug raid that left Taylor dead. The 12-member jury remained deadlocked on the second charge, which involves Brett Hankison using excessive force on Taylor, who was fatally shot by other officers.
The jury could continue to deliberate on that charge Friday night, but they have indicated to the judge in two notes that they are deadlocked on that count. Hankison fired 10 shots into Taylor's glass door and windows during the raid, but didn't hit anyone. Some shots flew into a next-door neighbor's adjoining apartment.
The death of the 26-year-old Black woman, along with the May 2020 police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, sparked racial injustice protests nationwide. A separate jury deadlocked on both charges last year, while in 2022, a jury acquitted Hankison on state charges of wanton endangerment. A conviction on the federal charges carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Hankison, 48, argued throughout the trial that he was acting to protect his fellow officers after Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, fired on them when they broke down Taylor’s door with a battering ram. Walker shot and wounded one of the officers. Hankison testified that when Walker fired, he moved away, rounded the corner of the apartment unit and fired into Taylor’s glass door an.