Ex-officer involved in Breonna Taylor raid to be retried

An ex-Louisiana officer accused of violating Breonna Taylor’s civil rights in a 2020 raid that led to her death will face a new trial, federal prosecutors announced Wednesday. 

The news comes after a federal jury last month reached an impasse, forcing a mistrial in the case against Brett Hankison. 

On March 13, 2020, officers in Louisville, Ky., executed a no-knock warrant, later to be found fraudulent. As they entered the apartment, Taylor’s boyfriend Kenneth Walker believed the officers to be intruders and fired one bullet. 

The bullet struck an officer in the leg, and three officers, including Hankison, opened fire in response. Taylor was struck by one of the rounds and killed.

But prosecutors only charged Hankison, who fired 10 shots into the apartment, with excessive force. 

Prosecutors argued that the other two officers were justified in returning fire, except for Hankison, who changed positions and no longer had a clear sight of his target. This, they said, was an attempt at deliberate excessive force. 

Though Hankison’s shots did not kill Taylor, the bullets entered the neighbor’s apartment and endangered the neighboring family, prosecutors argued.

Following the shooting, Taylor’s name became a rallying cry among Black Lives Matter advocates.

Hankison was fired from the Louisville Metro Police Department. Last year, he was found not guilty of state criminal charges related to the shooting.

After a two-week federal trial, the jury deliberated for nearly a week. At one point, security was sent into the deliberation room after the judge heard yelling from inside, according to The Associated Press.

Though both the judge and the federal prosecutor urged the jury to make a decision, jurors announced in November that they were deadlocked. 

Now, a status hearing will be held on Jan. 24, and a new trial date has been set for Oct. 14.

If convicted, Hankison faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.