US
Former Kentucky police officer Brett Hankison sentenced to three years in prison over Breonna Taylor death
A former Kentucky police officer has been sentenced to nearly three years in prison for using excessive force during the botched drugs raid that killed Breonna Taylor.
Brett Hankison’s 10 shots did not hit anyone – but he is the only person at the scene charged over her death in 2020.
The sentence comes despite the US Department of Justice recommending he should not be locked up.
District judge Rebecca Grady Jennings disagreed, arguing that not imprisoning him would minimise the jury’s verdict.
She said she was “startled” people weren’t hurt by his excessive shooting. Hankison’s shots narrowly missed a neighbouring family after they pierced the walls of Ms Taylor’s apartment.
Ms Taylor, 26, was killed in March 2020 when Louisville officers carried out a “no-knock” warrant and broke down her door.
Her boyfriend thought it was someone breaking in and fired a single shot in self-defence, hitting one officer in the leg.
Three officers responded with 32 shots, six of which struck and killed Ms Taylor.
She was hit in her hallway by bullets from two officers, but neither was charged after prosecutors said they were justified in returning fire.
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It later emerged police were actually searching for an ex-partner of Ms Taylor – an alleged drug dealer – who did not live at the address.
Her death, along with other killings of black people in 2020 including George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery, sparked protests around the US and the world.
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On Monday, Hankison, 49, was sentenced to 33 months with three years of supervised probation.
He won’t be locked up immediately and it will be for the US Bureau of Prisons to decide when and where he will be imprisoned.
A statement from Ms Taylor’s family said: “While today’s sentence is not what we had hoped for – nor does it fully reflect the severity of the harm caused – it is more than what the Department of Justice sought. That, in itself, is a statement.”
Three other former police officers who weren’t at the scene have been charged with crafting a falsified warrant but have not gone to trial.