A federal jury convicted former Louisville Metro Police Detective Brett Hankison of using excessive force in violating the civil rights of Breonna Taylor, the 26-year-old who died in a no-knock police raid of her apartment in March 2020. 

Friday’s verdict, which comes nearly five years after Taylor’s death, marks the first time an officer at the scene of the raid has been held criminally responsible. The fatal shootings of Taylor and other Black Americans fueled nationwide protests of police violence and racial injustice throughout 2020. Louisville banned no-knock warrants in June 2020.

“Breonna Taylor’s life mattered,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “We hope the jury’s verdict recognizing this violation of Ms. Taylor’s civil and constitutional rights brings some small measure of comfort to her family and loved ones who have suffered so deeply from the tragic events of March 2020.”

Taylor was killed on March 13, 2020, when seven plainclothes LMPD officers came to her South Louisville apartment to execute a no-knock search warrant as part of a narcotics investigation involving Taylor’s on-and-off-again ex-boyfriend. 

Whether they announced themselves as police is disputed. Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, who had a concealed-carry gun license, believed intruders were breaking in. He fired a warning shot that hit Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly in the leg. Officers then returned fire with a total of 32 shots. Taylor was shot six times and died at the scene. 

Taylor’s mother, Tamika Palmer, celebrated the verdict outside the federal courthouse Friday, saying: “It took a lot of time. It took a lot of patience. It was hard. The jurors took their time to really understand that Breonna deserved justice.”

The night of the raid, Hankison did not shoot Taylor but fired 10 rounds into a window and sliding glass door of Taylor’s apartment that entered a neighboring unit where a pregnant woman, her partner and 5-year-old lived. 

The jury returned the verdict after deadlocking on whether to convict Hankison of violating the civil rights of Taylor’s neighbors. Hankison went to trial on the same charges in 2023, but a judge declared a mistrial after the jury failed to reach a verdict on all charges. He was previously acquitted on similar state level charges. Neither of the officers who fatally shot Taylor were charged. 

Another former LMPD detective has pleaded guilty to federal charges of violating Taylor’s civil rights by falsifying the application for a warrant for a search of her apartment and two other former officers have pleaded not guilty to similar charges. 

Hankison’s conviction carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. U.S. District Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings will sentence him on March 12.