Ex-Louisville officer sentenced to 33 months for violating Breonna Taylor’s civil rights

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Brett Hankison, a former Louisville Metro Police Department officer, sentenced to 33 months in federal prison. He was convicted for violating Breonna Taylor’s civil rights during the fatal 2020 raid on her apartment.

Former Louisville officer Brett Hankison sentenced

Hankison, 49, was convicted last November of one count of deprivation of rights under color of law.

Prosecutors said Hankison fired 10 rounds blindly into Taylor’s apartment through a covered window and sliding glass door, endangering Taylor and her neighbors. None of his bullets struck anyone, but three rounds entered an adjacent unit. His actions were deemed reckless and unjustified.

One day recommendation

The sentencing by U.S. District Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings came despite a controversial recommendation from the Department of Justice that Hankison serve only one day in prison. The judge criticized the DOJ’s memo as “inappropriate” and said it minimized the severity of the offense.

What happened to Breonna Taylor?

Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency room technician, was killed on March 13, 2020, when plainclothes officers executed a no-knock warrant at her apartment. Her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, fired a shot believing intruders were breaking in. Officers returned fire, fatally striking Taylor. Hankison was the only officer charged in connection with the shooting.

Hankison was previously acquitted of state-level wanton endangerment charges in 2022 and faced a mistrial in his first federal case in 2023. His conviction marked the first accountability in Taylor’s death, though other officers involved in the warrant process — including Joshua Jaynes, Kelly Goodlett, and Kyle Meany — still face federal charges.

In addition to prison time, Hankison was sentenced to three years of supervised release and mandatory mental health treatment. He is expected to report to federal custody within the next 60 days.

Statement from Breonna Taylor’s family attorneys

National civil rights attorneys Ben Crump, Lonita Baker, and Sam Aguiar—who represent the family of Breonna Taylor—issued a pointed response to the sentencing.

In a joint statement, the attorneys acknowledged that the sentence fell short of expectations but noted it exceeded what the Department of Justice had recommended.

“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,” the attorneys wrote. “The jury found Brett Hankison guilty, and that verdict deserved to be met with real accountability.”

They emphasized that Taylor’s mother, Tamika Palmer, had called for a sentence aligned with federal guidelines and legal precedent, while condemning what they described as a broader failure by the DOJ to defend Black women’s civil rights.

“We respect the court’s decision,” the statement continued, “but we will continue to call out the DOJ’s failure to stand firmly behind Breonna’s rights and the rights of every Black woman whose life is treated as expendable.”