Brett Hankison fired fire at Taylor’s apartment, but none of the rounds collided with Taylor or his neighbors. A new DOJ memo seeks a one-day sentence.
The US is abandoning police reform settlements with Minneapolis and Louisville
The Justice Department has announced it will abandon police reform settlements between Minneapolis and Louisville.
The Justice Department recommended a one-day prison sentence for former Louisville, Kentucky, and was convicted of violating Breana Taylor’s civil rights in a fatal police attack in March 2020.
Taylor, 26, was inside the apartment when he was fatally injured by a Plain Cross officer during a failed drug investigation at around 12:40am on March 13, 2020.
Brett Hankison fired 10 rounds into Taylor’s apartment through a covered glass door and window. The round, fired by Hankison, was not attacked by Taylor or his neighbors.
Hankison, who is scheduled to be sentenced July 21, faces the biggest life sentence in prison.
According to court documents, a preliminary text report prepared by the U.S. Probation Service recommended sentences between 11. 25 and 14 years. The Justice Department memo said the scope was miscalculated and was “excessive” and “said the court recommends “allowing a significant downward departure.”
The DOJ demanded that Hankison be sentenced to one day’s prison sentence instead. This is considered to be “already in service as the defendant gained credibility on the day he first appeared and was booked and his supervised release continued for three years.
What the Department of Justice Memo says
The Justice Department said in a memorandum of determination filed July 16th it “is not aware of another charge that officers were accused of repatriating the fire and depriving others of the rights to prevent anyone from getting injured,” he said.
“The government respects the ju-secretary verdict, which almost certainly guarantees that Hankison will not be able to serve as a law enforcement officer again, and that he will not legally own the firearm again,” the memorandum said. “However, adding statements within the long guidelines range, along with these results, would be unfair, even if properly calculated – in the government’s view, in these circumstances.”
The memorandum states that former President Joe Biden’s administration should not indict Hankison on civil rights charges.
“Indeed, a reasonable mind may oppose whether Hanksion’s actions constituted a seizure under the First Fourth Amendment,” the memorandum states. “…and a reasonable mind may certainly oppose it, even if Hankisson’s actions constitute a seizure, whether or not prosecution under this Act should be brought under these circumstances.”
Fees follow the failed attack
As police entered the apartment, Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, shot an officer in the foot. Walker later said he believed the officer was an intruder.
Hankison has been charged with federal charges for violating the civil rights of Taylor and three nearby neighbors. His first trial on these charges ended in 2023 with Mistral. In November, the second federal ju judge found Hankison guilty of violating Taylor’s civil rights, but acquitted him for separate numbers of violating his neighbor’s rights.
He is the only officer who has been charged with a crime and fired into an apartment to be convicted of the crime, despite an investigation into a warrant that approved the attack.
The U.S. Lawyer’s Office for the Western District of Kentucky, along with representatives from Taylor’s family, did not immediately return a request for comment.
Contributors: Stephanie Kuzidim and Lucas Owlbach, Louisville Courier Journal
