Ex-officer Brett Hankison guilty in death of Breonna Taylor

A former police officer in the US state of Kentucky has been found guilty of violating the civil rights of Breonna Taylor, a woman killed in her own home during a botched raid in 2020.

Brett Hankison, 47, could face up to life in prison after being convicted of using excessive force against the 26-year-old black nursing student.

But the jury also found him not guilty on another charge of violating the civil rights of one of Taylor’s neighbours.

While he did not fire the shot that killed Taylor, Hankison fired 10 times into her apartment, which he said he did to protect fellow officers as Taylor’s boyfriend opened fire when officers smashed in the front door.

This was the third time Hankison stood trial, but it marks the first time he has been convicted of a crime for the deadly raid of 13 March 2020.

Hankison was the first of the four officers charged in Taylor’s death to face a jury.

Another former officer, Kelly Goodlett, pleaded guilty to falsifying the search warrant for Taylor’s home.

The remaining two officers had their federal charges thrown out by a judge earlier this year. The US justice department recently indicted the two on new charges.

Taylor was killed after officers wearing plain clothes executed a “no-knock” search warrant at her home. They burst into her apartment in the early morning hours while she and her boyfriend Kenneth Walker were asleep.

Authorities believed Taylor’s former boyfriend was using her home to hide narcotics.

Walker fired a single shot when they knocked the door down because he said the officers did not announce themselves as police, and he thought they were intruders.

Another officer fired the shot that killed Taylor, but prosecutors said his use of deadly force was justified because Walker had opened fire first, hitting a colleague of Hankison.

None of Hankison’s bullets hit anyone, but they did enter a neighbouring property, where prosecutors said a family was sleeping.

A subsequent police report contained errors, including listing Taylor’s injuries as “none” and saying no force was used to enter, when a battering ram had been used.

Taylor’s name became a rallying cry during the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests.

Hankison was fired from Louisville Metro Police Department in June 2020.

His previous federal case last year ended in a mistrial when the jury told the judge it could not reach a unanimous verdict.

He was previously tried by a Kentucky state jury in March 2022, and acquitted on three counts of felony wanton endangerment.

Taylor’s family and Walker have both received pay-outs from the city over the incident.

A series of police reforms were also introduced in Louisville.