A federal judge on Monday handed down a nearly three-year prison sentence to a former Kentucky police officer for his role in the 2020 deadly raid on Breonna Taylor’s home, rejecting the Justice Department’s recommendation for no jail time.
Brett Hankison, the officer who fired 10 shots during the chaotic raid—though none struck anyone—was the only cop charged in connection to the death of the Black woman. His sentencing makes him the first person to face prison time in a case that ignited massive protests against police brutality in Louisville and across the country five years ago.
Just last week, the Justice Department proposed Hankison serve only one day in jail, followed by supervised release. In their sentencing memo, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet K. Dhillon and Senior Counsel Robert J. Keenan argued that Hankison had endured severe psychological stress throughout the legal ordeal.
But U.S. District Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings wasn’t buying it. During Monday’s hearing, she declared that avoiding prison was “not appropriate”, expressing shock that more people weren’t harmed during the reckless gunfire.
Hankison was sentenced to 33 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised probation.
While Hankison didn’t injure anyone, his bullets tore through Taylor’s bedroom window, pierced blinds and a blackout curtain, and even entered a neighboring apartment—where a couple and their five-year-old child were inside.
In November 2024, Hankison was convicted of a federal civil rights violation, a charge that carried a potential maximum sentence of life in prison.
Meanwhile, back in May, Donald Trump’s Justice Department abruptly scrapped plans to finalize a consent decree with the city of Louisville—a move that would have given federal oversight of police reforms, including use-of-force training and accountability measures.
Six months after Taylor's death, in September 2020, her family received a $12 million wrongful death settlement from the city. On Monday, their civil rights attorney, Ben Crump, told the Associated Press that while he had hoped for a harsher punishment, he was still “grateful that [Hankison] is at least going to prison and has to think for those three years about Breonna Taylor and that her life mattered.”
Description:
"A former Kentucky officer has been sentenced to nearly 3 years in prison for his role in the deadly Breonna Taylor raid. The judge defied DOJ's no-prison recommendation, calling his actions reckless. Here's everything you need to know."