Officer convicted in Breonna Taylor raid was sentenced to 33 months’ sentence

A former Kentucky policeman was sentenced to 33 months in jail after being convicted of alleged assault that led to a fatal shooting of black women in her home.

Last year, a federal jury found Brett Hankison guilty of excessive force of infringement of Taylor’s civil rights. The maximum sentence for the charge is life imprisonment in prison.

The verdict comes days after the Trump administration asked a judge to sentence Hanssen to one-day prison, a position in stark contrast to the case under President Joe Biden.

Hankison is the only official directly charged and ruled to be linked to the outbreak of the attack.

Another former official, Kelly Goodlett, pleaded guilty to forged an affidavit for obtaining a search warrant for Taylor’s home and covering up her behavior after she died, and will be sentenced next year.

After the sentence, Hankison will face three years of supervision release.

Taylor’s mother, Tamika Palmer, and the family’s attorney spoke after Monday’s sentencing.

“I think the judge did everything he could in the work she had to work with,” Ms. Palmer said.

Taylor’s boyfriend Kenneth Walker, who was in the apartment on raid night, said he was “thanks to a small portion of justice we received.”

After Taylor’s death, Taylor became a Black Lives Matter movement in 2020, with police killing George Floyd, who was murdered in a police arrest that same year.

She was killed after she executed a “no knock” search warrant at home. They broke into her apartment early in the morning as she and Walker fell asleep.

Authorities believe Taylor’s ex-boyfriend is using her home to hide narcotics.

Mr Walker fired a shot when police officers knocked down the door and ran into an officer, John Mattingly. Mr Walker said the officers did not declare themselves police officers and he believed they were invaders.

The three officers shot 32 bullets into the apartment in a fire.

He said during the trial that Hankinson opened her apartment 10 times to protect her fellow countrymen.

Hankison’s bullets hit no one, but they did enter the neighboring property, a pregnant woman, a five-year-old and a man who had been sleeping.

Prosecutors said Hannison took reckless action and “violated one of the most fundamental deadly rules of force: if they can’t see the person they are shooting, they won’t be able to trigger it.”

Outside the court building, protesters awaiting verdicts blocked the streets chanting Taylor’s name. Several people, including Taylor’s aunt, Bianca Austin, were detained in police custody.

In early November 2024, Hankison Convicted for an abuse of civil rights.

“His use of deadly force was illegal and left Ms. Taylor hurt,” Merrick Garland, the competitive performer at the time, said in a statement. “This judgment was an important step towards the responsibility for violating Brena Taylor’s civil rights, but losing Ms. Taylor’s justice is a task beyond human capacity.”

Donald Trump won reelection days after Hankinson’s conviction – a political shift means that sentencing recommendations come not from the Biden administration, which brought the charges but from the Trump-led Justice Department.

Last week, the suggestion – Require Hankison to serve in prison – Shocked a few, including Taylor’s family.

“Every American who believes in the law provides for equal justice should be angry,” the family lawyer said. “It is recommended that only one day prison send a clear message that white officers can violate the civil rights of nearly impunity black Americans.”

The Justice Department argued in its sentencing request that despite Hangison’s involvement in “executing a warrant” during the deadly raid, he did not shoot Taylor “and was not responsible for her death.”

The Justice Department also said that in this case, the additional prison time is “simple is unjust”.

Typically, sentencing recommendations are signed by lawyers involved in a case or professional Justice Department employee who handles the judgment request.

In this case, Trump’s appointee, Harmeet Dhillon, signed the proposal.

Since returning to the White House, Trump has withdrawn Biden-era policies back to priorities, especially at the Justice Department.

In May, the Ministry of Justice began Dismissed lawsuit against Louisville and Minneapolis Police Departments After controversy over high-profile police killings and cruel behavior, including Taylor’s case.

An investigation into constitutional violations of police officers in other cities such as Memphis and Phoenix is also over.

The Justice Department criticized the Biden administration for enacting a “thorough “oversight agreement” that could have been micromanaged by local police through federal courts.

During Biden’s tenure, the Justice Department conducted civil investigations into 12 state and local law enforcement agencies.

In four of them — in Louisville, Minneapolis, Phoenix and Lexington, Mississippi — the department has released reports on systemic police misconduct.

Despite a liability agreement with some police departments, it has not been officially promulgated.

These changes were also carried out in time during the Ministry of Justice’s large-scale exodus.

The report said that in the civil rights department alone, about 70% of lawyers have left since Trump took office.