Breonna Taylor

[spaminator]

Jury acquits only Louisville officer charged in Breonna Taylor raid
Author of the article:Reuters
Reuters
Daniel Trotta
Publishing date:Mar 03, 2022 • 12 hours ago • 3 minute read • Join the conversation
Former Louisville police detective Brett Hankison poses for a booking photograph at Shelby County Detention Center in Shelbyville, Ky., Sept. 23, 2020.
Former Louisville police detective Brett Hankison poses for a booking photograph at Shelby County Detention Center in Shelbyville, Ky., Sept. 23, 2020. PHOTO BY SHELBY COUNTY DETENTION CENTER /Handout via REUTERS
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A Kentucky jury on Thursday acquitted a white former detective of endangering neighbours of Breonna Taylor during a botched raid that killed the Black woman in her home, clearing law enforcement of all criminal liability in a case that rocked the United States in 2020.

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Detective Brett Hankison, 45, whose stray bullets hit a neighbouring apartment in the city of Louisville during the execution of a “no knock” search warrant after midnight, was the only officer charged in the case, with wanton endangerment.

Hankison could be heard sobbing behind his face mask as the verdict was read three times, one for each of the occupants of the neighbouring apartment, according a Court TV reporter who was in the courtroom.

Relatives of Taylor who were in the gallery also wept, the reporter said.

The jury deliberated for about three hours after hearing closing arguments on Thursday at the conclusion of a one-week trial at Jefferson County Circuit Court.

The death of Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency medical technician who was unarmed, was one in a trio of cases that fueled a summer of protests against racial injustice and police violence two years ago, when the country was reeling from the still-new coronavirus pandemic.

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The other cases resulted in guilty verdicts for the murders of two Black men in 2020: George Floyd in Minneapolis and Ahmaud Arbery in Brunswick, Georgia.

Those convictions had offered a measure of justice after Black activists and victims have said their protests against racial violence were largely ignored before the advent of cellphone video.

In this case, a grand jury cleared the two white officers who shot Taylor but charged Hankison for endangering neighbours in the adjacent apartment. A grand juror on the case later said Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron only presented the wanton endangerment charges against Hankison to the grand jury.

That meant the only trial to result from her death hinged on whether a police officer was justified in firing his weapon upon hearing a barrage of gunfire.

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“This trial was not even for the bullets that killed Taylor.

No matter what the outcome may have been, justice for Breonna was never an option. We must demand more,” the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky said on Twitter.

Police wanted to search the home in connection with a drug investigation in which Taylor’s ex-boyfriend was a suspect.

After police broke down Taylor’s door, her new boyfriend, fearing a break-in and saying he did not hear police identify themselves, fired one shot from and handgun that wounded an officer. That officer and another returned fire, shooting 22 times.

In tearful testimony on Wednesday, Hankison said he mistakenly believed his fellow officers were coming under heavy fire. He shot 10 times from outside the apartment.

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“I think it was absolutely the fact that he was doing his job as a police officer,” defence attorney Stew Mathews told reporters after the verdict, according to the Louisville Courier Journal. “The jury felt like, you go out and perform your duty and your brother officer gets shot, you’ve got a right to defend yourself.”

Taylor’s mother, Tamika Palmer, left without commenting, the Courier Journal said. Taylor’s family in 2020 won a $12 million wrongful death settlement from the city of Louisville.

Taylor’s death on March 13, 2020, at first drew little national attention but was thrust into prominence after a Minneapolis police officer killed Floyd by pinning a knee to his neck on May 25, 2020.

Around then, video surfaced showing the February 2020 shooting death of Arbery after he was chased by three white men.

Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was convicted of murdering Floyd last year and sentenced to more than 22 years in prison.

The three civilians charged in Arbery’s death were convicted of murder in a state trial last year.

Jury acquits only Louisville officer charged in Breonna Taylor raid

A Kentucky jury on Thursday acquitted a white former detective of endangering neighbours of Breonna Taylor during a botched raid that killed the Black woman in her …

torontosun.com

 

[Tecumsehsbones]

It's Kaintuck, Jake.

 

[spaminator]

Feds charge 4 cops in fatal Breonna Taylor raid
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Dylan Lovan
Publishing date:Aug 04, 2022 • 20 hours ago • 1 minute read • Join the conversation

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — The U.S. Justice Department announced civil rights charges Thursday against four Louisville police officers over the drug raid that led to the death of Breonna Taylor, a Black woman whose fatal shooting contributed to the racial justice protests that rocked the U.S. in the spring and summer of 2020.


The charges are another effort to hold law enforcement accountable for the killing of the 26-year-old medical worker after one of the officers was acquitted of state charges earlier this year.

Federal officials “share but cannot fully imagine the grief” felt by Taylor’s family, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in announcing the charges.

“Breonna Taylor should be alive today,” he said.

The charges are against former officers Joshua Jaynes, Brett Hankison and Kelly Goodlett, along with Sgt. Kyle Meany.

Taylor was shot to death by Louisville officers who had knocked down her door while executing the search warrant. Taylor’s boyfriend fired a shot that hit one of the officers as they came through the door and they returned fire, striking Taylor multiple times.

Hankison, who was dismissed from the department in 2020, was one of the officers at Taylor’s door and one of three who fired shots that night. He was acquitted by a jury of state charges of wanton endangerment earlier this year in Louisville.

Jaynes had applied for the warrant to search Taylor’s house. He was fired in January 2021 by former Louisville Police interim chief Yvette Gentry for violating department standards in the preparation of a search warrant execution and for being “untruthful” in the Taylor warrant.

Feds charge 4 cops in fatal Breonna Taylor raid

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — The U.S. Justice Department announced civil rights charges Thursday against four Louisville police officers over the drug raid that led to th…

torontosun.com

 

[DaSleeper]

S.S.S.

 

[petros]

View attachment 15102S.S.S.

Yeah really. I gotta start hanging with black crack dealers who shoot at cops so I can get shot and my family gets rich.

Kinda like the "bought the farm" scenario of WW2 but for gangbangers and their crack slut hosebag girlfriends.

 

[spaminator]

Former Louisville cop pleads guilty in Breonna Taylor case
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Dylan Lovan
Publishing date:Aug 23, 2022 • 12 hours ago • 3 minute read • Join the conversation

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A former Louisville police detective who helped write the warrant that led to the deadly police raid at Breonna Taylor’s apartment has pleaded guilty to a federal conspiracy charge.


Federal investigators said Kelly Goodlett added a false line to the warrant and later conspired with another detective to create a cover story when Taylor’s March 13, 2020, shooting death by police began gaining national attention.


Taylor, a 26-year-old Black woman, was shot to death by officers who knocked down her door while executing a drug search warrant. Taylor’s boyfriend fired a shot that hit one of the officers as they came through the door and they returned fire, striking Taylor multiple times.

Goodlett, 35, appeared in a federal courtroom in Louisville on Tuesday afternoon and admitted to conspiring with another Louisville police officer to falsify the warrant. Goodlett briefly answered several questions from federal judge Rebecca Jennings Grady.


Taylor’s mother, Tamika Palmer, was in the courtroom Tuesday but did not speak after the proceedings.

Three former Louisville officers were indicted on criminal civil rights charges earlier this month by a federal grand jury. Goodlett was not indicted, but charged in a federal information filing, which likely means the former detective is cooperating with investigators.

Goodlett will be sentenced Nov. 22. Grady said there may be “extenuating circumstances” that may move the court to push back the sentencing date. Part of the plea hearing was also kept under seal and was not discussed in open court Tuesday. She faces up to five years in prison for the conviction.

She resigned from the department Aug. 5, a day after U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced new federal charges in the Taylor case.


Former officers Joshua Jaynes and Kyle Meany were indicted on charges related to the warrant used to search Taylor’s home. A third former officer, Brett Hankison, was charged with using excessive force when he retreated from Taylor’s door, turned a corner and fired 10 shots into the side of her two-bedroom apartment. He was acquitted by a jury on similar state charges earlier this year. Jaynes, Meany and Hankison have all been fired.

The three former officers face a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted on the civil rights charges.

Federal prosecutors said in court records that Jaynes, who drew up the Taylor warrant, had claimed to Goodlett days before the warrant was served that he had “verified” from a postal inspector that a suspected drug dealer was receiving packages at Taylor’s apartment. But Goodlett knew this was false and told Jaynes the warrant did not yet have enough information connecting Taylor to criminal activity, prosecutors said. She added a paragraph saying the suspected drug dealer, Jamarcus Glover, was using Taylor’s apartment as his current address, according to the court records.


Two months later, when the Taylor shooting was attracting national headlines, the postal inspector told a media outlet he had not verified packages for Glover were going to Taylor’s apartment. Jaynes and Goodlett then met in Jaynes’ garage to “get on the same page” before Jaynes talked to investigators about the Taylor warrant, court records said.

They decided to say Sgt. John Mattingly, who is identified in the court records as J.M., told them Glover was receiving packages at Taylor’s home, according to prosecutors. Mattingly was shot in the leg during the raid at Taylor’s apartment.

Meany, who signed off on the Taylor warrant and was still a Louisville police sergeant when he was indicted on Aug. 4, was fired by Louisville Police Chief Erika Shields on Friday.

Shields said in a statement that Meany has not yet had his case heard by a jury, but “he is facing multiple federal charges after a lengthy investigation by the DOJ” and should not “expect continued employment under such conditions.”

Hankison was the only officer charged who was on the scene the night of the killing.

Former Louisville cop pleads guilty in Breonna Taylor case

A former Louisville police detective has pleaded guilty to a federal conspiracy charge in deadly police raid at Breonna Taylor’s apartment.

torontosun.com

 

[DaSleeper]

S. S. S.

 

[spaminator]

Ex-Louisville cop involved in protest shooting pleads guilty
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Dylan Lovan
Publishing date:Oct 12, 2022 • 20 hours ago • 3 minute read • Join the conversation

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A former Louisville police officer blamed for instigating a conflict that led to the fatal shooting of a Black barbecue restaurant owner during the Breonna Taylor protests has pleaded guilty to using excessive force.


Katie R. Crews, 29, pleaded guilty in federal court Tuesday to a misdemeanor. She was indicted in March on a felony excessive force charge that carried a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.


Crews, who is white, was fired by Louisville police earlier this year for escalating a conflict the night of restaurant owner David McAtee’s death and for a separate incident where she taunted protesters on social media.

McAtee’s death furthered the anger of protesters who had began massing in Louisville’s downtown streets in 2020 over the death of Taylor, a Black EMT killed by police who knocked down her door while executing a drug search warrant.

Under the terms of the agreement, Crews, of Jeffersonville, Indiana, can no longer work in law enforcement. She will be sentenced in federal court in January. The misdemeanor charge carries a maximum penalty of one year in prison.


Steve Romines, a lawyer for McAtee’s family, said they are “glad that there has been an acknowledgment of the gross misconduct of (Louisville police) the night of David’s death.”

Crews wasn’t “a lone wolf who decided to go rogue,” Romines said in an email Wednesday, arguing that authorities were sent to Louisville’s west end by commanding officers to “violate policies and harass people.”

A civil lawsuit brought by McAtee’s family blames Crews and other law enforcement for using aggressive tactics on bystanders who were on private property the night of McAtee’s death.

A couple days earlier, Crews had been photographed by media in downtown Louisville with a protester who offered her a flower. Crews posted the photo on social media and wrote that she hoped “the pepper balls that (the protester) got lit up with a little later on hurt.”


“Come back and get ya some more ole girl, I’ll be on the line again tonight,” Crews wrote.

She later told police investigators she was irritated at the photo’s publication, because she saw it as the “media spinning things.”

On the night of McAtee’s death, Crews was part of a group of Louisville officers and National Guard members sent to an area near his eatery, YaYa’s BBQ, to break up a crowd.

The officers were sent to a predominantly Black neighborhood “for a show of force (and) intimidation,” far away from the downtown protests, according to the McAtee family’s lawsuit, which is pending. It said Crews and other officers were “spoiling for a fight.”

Crews approached YaYa’s and began firing nonlethal pepper balls, which release a chemical agent. The shots from Crews prompted bystanders to rush into McAtee’s kitchen, and Crews kept firing in that direction. McAtee’s niece, standing in the doorway of the kitchen, was hit by one of Crews’ nonlethal rounds.


After his niece was hit, McAtee pulled a pistol from his hip and fired a shot out the door. Crews and other officers then switched to live rounds and McAtee, leaning out his kitchen door, was fatally shot in the chest by a National Guard member. The lawsuit said officers and National Guard members fired at least 18 live rounds at McAtee’s door.

“Tragically, Crews’ aggression and desire to inflict harm on others was taken out on David McAtee and his niece,” the lawsuit said. Romines has said people were running into McAtee’s kitchen yelling that they were being shot at, and McAtee had no idea who was doing the shooting.

Prosecutors later cleared Louisville officers and two National Guard members in a criminal probe into McAtee’s death, saying they were justified in using deadly force because McAtee fired at them.

Crews later told investigators that no one in the crowd that night had been disorderly. She also said she had limited training with the pepper ball guns.

“I didn’t check myself and I own it,” she told police investigators. “I own that I messed up.”

Ex-Louisville cop involved in protest shooting pleads guilty

A former Louisville cop blamed for instigating a conflict that led to the fatal shooting of a restaurant owner has pleaded guilty to using excessive force.

torontosun.com

 

[spaminator]

After Breonna Taylor shooting, feds find pattern of violations with Louisville cops
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Dylan Lovan
Published Mar 08, 2023 • Last updated 2 days ago • 2 minute read

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The U.S. Justice Department has found Louisville police have engaged in a pattern of violating constitutional rights following an investigation prompted by the fatal police shooting of Breonna Taylor.


The announcement was made Wednesday by Attorney Merrick Garland. A Justice Department report found the Louisville/Jefferson County Metro Government and Louisville Metro Police Department “engage in a pattern or practice of conduct that deprives people of their rights under the Constitution and federal law.”


The report said Louisville police “discriminate against Black people in its enforcement activities,” uses excessive force and conducts searches based on invalid warrants. It also said the department violates the rights of people engaged in protected speech, like the street protests in the city in the summer of 2020.

“This conduct is unacceptable, it is heartbreaking,” Garland said.

The sweeping probe announced in April 2021 is known as a “pattern or practice” investigation — examining whether there is a pattern of unconstitutional or unlawful policing inside the department.


Taylor, a 26-year-old Black woman, was roused from her bed by police who came through the door using a battering ram after midnight on March 13, 2020. Three officers fired shots after Taylor’s boyfriend, fearing an intruder, shot an officer in the leg. Taylor was struck several times and died at the scene.

The warrant used to enter her home is now part of a separate federal criminal investigation, and one former Louisville officer has already pleaded guilty to helping falsify information on the warrant. No drugs were found in Taylor’s home.

Louisville police have undergone five leadership changes since the Taylor shooting, and new Mayor Craig Greenberg is interviewing candidates for the next chief. The city has settled a number of lawsuits related to the incident, including a $12 million payment to Taylor’s family that ended a wrongful death lawsuit.

Since 2020 the city has banned no-knock warrants, started a program that aims to send behavioral health professionals to some 911 calls, expanded community violence prevention efforts and sought to support health and wellness for officers, the report said.

After Breonna Taylor shooting, feds find pattern of violations with Louisville cops

The U.S. Justice Department has found Louisville police have engaged in a pattern of violating constitutional rights

torontosun.com

 

[spaminator]

Ex-officer who fatally shot Breonna Taylor hired as a deputy
Taylor was killed March 13, 2020, by police executing a narcotics search warrant

Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Dylan Lovan
Published Apr 24, 2023 • Last updated 1 day ago • 3 minute read

CARROLLTON, Ky. — A former Louisville police officer who fired the fatal shot that killed Breonna Taylor has a new job in law enforcement – a controversial hiring that drew protesters to a rural Kentucky county northeast of the city.


The Carroll County Sheriff’s Office on Saturday confirmed the employment of Myles Cosgrove, who was fired from the Louisville Metro Police Department in January 2021 for violating use-of-force procedures and failing to use a body camera during the raid on Taylor’s apartment, according to media reports.


About a dozen people showed up in downtown Carrolton Monday morning to object to his hiring, holding signs and chanting “Cosgrove has got to go.”

“I think he should be in jail,” said Haley Wilson, a 24-year-old resident of the small Kentucky town near the Ohio River. She said it is “absolutely ridiculous” that Cosgrove is now policing her town.

Investigators said that Cosgrove fired 16 rounds into the apartment after Taylor’s front door was breached during a narcotics raid on March 13, 2020. Thinking an intruder was breaking in, Taylor’s boyfriend fired a shot from a handgun at the officers. Officer Jonathan Mattingly was struck in the leg, and the officers returned fire, killing Taylor in her hallway.


A ground mural depicting a portrait of Breonna Taylor is seen at Chambers Park in Annapolis, Md., July 6, 2020.
A ground mural depicting a portrait of Breonna Taylor is seen at Chambers Park in Annapolis, Md., July 6, 2020. PHOTO BY JULIO CORTEZ /THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
An FBI investigation determined that Cosgrove and Mattingly struck Taylor, a 26-year-old Black woman, and that Cosgrove likely fired the fatal shot. Neither officer was charged by a 2020 state grand jury in Taylor’s death, and a two-year investigation by the FBI also cleared Cosgrove and Mattingly of any charges.

The FBI probe found that other superior officers had crafted a faulty drug warrant that contained false information about Taylor. U.S. Attorney Merrick Garland said in August that the officers who went to Taylor’s apartment with the warrant “were not involved in drafting the warrant affidavit and were not aware that it was false.”

Robert Miller, chief deputy in Carroll County, pointed out that Cosgrove was cleared by the state grand jury when speaking of his hiring at the small Kentucky sheriff’s department.


In November, the Kentucky Law Enforcement Council voted not to revoke Cosgrove’s state peace officer certification. That meant he could apply for other law enforcement jobs in the state.

Brett Hankison, an officer who fired shots but didn’t hit anybody during the raid, was found not guilty by a jury of wanton endangerment charges. But he still awaits trial on federal civil rights charges for his actions during the raid, as do two other officers who were involved in obtaining the warrant. A third officer pleaded guilty to conspiracy in the crafting of the warrant.

There is no national database of officers who resign or are fired in misconduct cases, meaning in a lot of cases they can apply for jobs in other police agencies and departments.


In some cases, agencies that hire officers who were fired somewhere else may be unaware of the officer’s history because they failed to do a proper background check, said Ben Grunwald, a Duke University law school professor and co-author of a study published in 2020 on so-called “wandering officers,” or those fired by one agency who later find work at another. In Cosgrove’s case, however, his history was highly publicized.

In some cases, it’s possible the hiring agency sees a previously fired officer’s history as a benefit, rather than a risk, Grunwald said.

“Maybe that’s exactly what they want,” he said. “Maybe they are looking for a cowboy cop who has gotten in trouble in the past, but they think they got a bad shake.”

— Associated Press reporter Alanna Durkin contributed to this story from Boston.

Ex-officer who fatally shot Breonna Taylor hired as a deputy

None of the three white officers who fired into Taylor's home were charged by a grand jury in her death.

torontosun.com

 

[spaminator]

Ex-cop who fired into Breonna Taylor's apartment in flawed, fatal raid goes on trial again
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Dylan Lovan
Published Oct 30, 2023 • 2 minute read

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A former Louisville police officer who fired into Breonna Taylor’s apartment the night she was killed is going on trial in federal court this week for violating Taylor’s civil rights during the botched 2020 raid.


The trial will mark a second attempt by prosecutors to convict Brett Hankison for his actions on the night Taylor, a 26-year-old Black woman, was shot to death by police after they knocked down the door of her apartment. Hankison was acquitted in a state trial last year.


Jury selection in the federal case is set to begin Monday.

Taylor was shot to death by officers who knocked down her door while executing a search warrant, which was later found to be flawed. Taylor’s boyfriend fired a shot that hit one of the officers as they came through the door, and they returned fire, striking Taylor in her hallway multiple times.

Hankison is one of four officers who were charged by the U.S. Department of Justice last year with violating Taylor’s civil rights.


Taylor’s killing along with George Floyd’s death at the hands of Minnesota police in 2020 ignited protests that summer around the country over racial injustice and police brutality. U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the federal indictments in the Taylor case in August, remarking that Taylor “should be alive today.”

Another former officer, Kelly Goodlett, has pleaded guilty to a federal conspiracy charge. Former detective Joshua Jaynes and former Sgt. Kyle Meany are charged with conspiring to deprive Taylor of her civil rights. Jaynes and Meany are set to be tried together next year. Goodlett is expected to testify against them. Hankison is the only officer of the four who was present at the March 13, 2020, raid.


The night of the raid, Hankison’s 10 shots didn’t hit anyone as he fired his handgun through Taylor’s glass slider door and bedroom window, but his bullets flew into neighboring apartments with people inside.

He took the witness stand at his 2022 trial in state court and said after a fellow officer was shot in the leg, he moved away from the front door and to the side of the apartment, where he began firing.

“I thought I could put rounds through that bedroom window and stop the threat,” Hankison said.

Investigators determined only one round was fired by Taylor’s boyfriend, who said he thought an intruder was breaking in. The other 32 bullets fired in the raid came from police.

During the state trial, when asked if he did anything wrong during the raid, Hankison replied, “absolutely not,” even though he acknowledged firing into the window and patio door. As for Taylor, he said, “She didn’t need to die that night.” That prompted Breonna Taylor’s mother to leave the courtroom.

A jury cleared Hankison of wanton endangerment charges at that trial.

U.S. District Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings postponed Hankison’s federal trial about two months after Hankison’s lawyers asked for more time to process massive amounts of evidence turned over by federal prosecutors.

The federal trial is expected to last two to three weeks.

Ex-cop who fired into Breonna Taylor's apartment in flawed, fatal raid goes on trial again

A former Louisville police officer who fired into Breonna Taylor's apartment the night she was killed is going on trial in federal court

torontosun.com

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

What happened to double jeopardy -- not being tried for the same crime twice?

 

[Tecumsehsbones]

What happened to double jeopardy -- not being tried for the same crime twice?

Different crime. Deprivation of civil rights is a Federal beef under 18 USC 242.

 

[spaminator]

Breonna Taylor’s neighbour testified son was nearly shot by officer’s stray bullets during 2020 raid

Author of the article:
Associated Press
Associated Press
Dylan Lovan
Published Nov 02, 2023 • 3 minute read

Chelsey Napper, the neighbour of Breonna Taylor, testifies during the trial of former Louisville police officer Brett Hankison, March 1, 2022, in Louisville, Ky. Breonna Taylor's neighbor recalled her horror as police bullets flew into her apartment near her sleeping son as a federal trial for Hankison, the former Louisville officer who fired those shots, began on Thursday, Nov. 2, 2023.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Breonna Taylor’s neighbour recalled her horror as police bullets flew into her apartment near her sleeping son as a federal trial for the former Louisville officer who fired those shots began Thursday.


Brett Hankison fired 10 shots during the botched raid in March 2020 that left Taylor dead, though it was another officer who fatally shot the 26-year-old Black woman. Hankison, 47, is charged with two federal civil rights violations for endangering Taylor, her boyfriend and Taylor’s neighbours, who shared a wall with her apartment. None of Hankison’s shots hit anyone.


Federal prosecutors are attempting to do what Kentucky prosecutors couldn’t — convict Hankison for his actions on the night Taylor was shot to death by white officers. In the 2022 state trial, Hankison was acquitted of charges that he endangered Napper and her family.

In this federal case, the stakes are higher for Hankison. The two charges each carry a maximum penalty of life in prison.


“I was scared to death, I didn’t know what was happening,” the neighbour, Chelsey Napper, testified as the first witness called by federal prosecutors. Napper lived next door to Taylor, whose killing sparked massive racial injustice protests in the summer of 2020.

“I didn’t know what to think, I couldn’t think,” Napper testified, after saying she heard a loud boom outside. It was a hail of gunfire from officers who came to Taylor’s door to serve a warrant. After officers broke down Taylor’s door with a battering ram, her boyfriend fired a shot that hit an officer in the leg.

Napper’s boyfriend and her son were also in their apartment, and she said a bullet came within 1 to 2 feet (0.3 to 0.6 meters) of her son, Zayden, as he lay in bed. Napper testified she was shocked when she later learned it was a police officer who fired the shots.


Hankison’s lawyers argued during opening statements that the former K-9 officer with 17 years of experience was making a “tactical move” when he spun away from Taylor’s front door, ran to the side of the apartment and fired shots through a glass door and bedroom window.

“None of Brett Hankison’s rounds hit anyone. No one,” his attorney, Jack Byrd said during opening arguments Thursday.

Federal prosecutors told the jury that Hankison fired his shots after the gunfire between other officers and Taylor’s boyfriend had stopped.

“At that point, Breonna was on the ground … the gunfire had stopped,” said Anna Gotfryd, a federal prosecutor with the Department of Justice. “Except the defendant wasn’t done.”



Gotfryd said Hankison retreated to the side of the apartment and “suddenly sprayed bullets into the apartment.”

Hankison’s attorneys disputed that there was a pause between the gunfire between officers at the door and Hankison’s shots. None of the officers involved in the raid had turned on their body cameras.

Byrd argued that Hankison had shown up the night of the raid to earn overtime pay, and had nothing to do with the drafting of the warrant used to enter Taylor’s home. He said the jury would hear testimony that Hankison was not the last to fire his weapon.

Hankison took the witness stand at his 2022 trial in state court and said after a fellow officer was shot in the leg, he moved away from the front door and to the side of the apartment, where he began firing. He said he wanted to “stop the threat” coming from inside the apartment.

The jury selection process began on Monday. About 80 potential jurors were individually questioned out of the public eye in a library adjacent to the courtroom over three days as U.S. District Judge Rebecca Jenning Grady took precautions to protect their identities and their answers to personal questions. In Hankison’s state trial, potential jurors were asked about their views on the police and protest groups like Black Lives Matter.

On Thursday morning, 16 jurors were selected, a number that includes four alternates in case a juror cannot finish the trial.

Hankison is one of four officers who were charged by the U.S. Department of Justice last year with violating Taylor’s civil rights. He was fired by Louisville police in 2020.

Breonna Taylor’s neighbour testified son was nearly shot by officer’s stray bullets during 2020 raid

Brett Hankison fired 10 shots during the botched raid in March 2020 that left Taylor dead.

torontosun.com

 

[spaminator]

Mistrial declared after federal jury deadlocks in trial of ex-officer in deadly Breonna Taylor raid
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Dylan Lovan
Published Nov 16, 2023 • 4 minute read

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Jurors failed to reach a unanimous verdict on federal civil rights charges Thursday in the trial of a former Louisville police officer charged in the police raid that killed Breonna Taylor, prompting the judge to declare a mistrial.


Brett Hankison was charged with using excessive force that violated the rights of Taylor, her boyfriend and her next-door neighbours. Hankison fired 10 shots into the Black woman’s window and a glass door after officers came under fire during a flawed drug warrant search on March 13, 2020. Some of his shots flew into a neighbouring apartment, but none of them struck anyone.


The 12-member, mostly white jury struggled fruitlessly to reach a verdict over several days. On Thursday afternoon, they sent a note to the judge saying they were at an impasse. U.S. District Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings urged them to keep trying, and they returned to deliberations.


The judge reported there were “elevated voices” coming from the jury room at times during deliberations, and court security officials had to visit the room. Jurors then told the judge Thursday they were deadlocked on both counts against Hankison, and could not come to a decision — prompting Jennings’ declaration of a mistrial.


The mistrial could result in a retrial of Hankison, but that would be determined by federal prosecutors at a later date.

Federal prosecutors didn’t immediately respond to an email afterward seeking comment.

Before the mistrial was declared, the lead federal prosecutor, Michael Songer, said in court that it would take “enormous resources … to retry this case.” Songer wanted the jury to keep deliberating.

Jennings said she believed the jury would not be able to reach a verdict. “I think the totality of the circumstances may be beyond repair in this case,” the judge said. “They have a disagreement that they cannot get past.”

Lonita Baker, an attorney for Taylor’s family, said afterward that Taylor’s mother, Tamika Palmer, was disappointed with the outcome but remained encouraged “because a mistrial is not an acquittal. And so we live another day to fight for justice for Breonna.”


Hankison, 47, was acquitted by a Kentucky jury last year on wanton endangerment charges. State prosecutors had alleged he illegally put Taylor’s neighbours in danger. Months after his acquittal last year, the U.S. Department of Justice brought the new charges against Hankison, along with separate charges against a group of other officers involved in crafting the warrant.

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said Taylor, a 26-year-old nursing student, “should be alive today” when he announced the federal charges in August 2022. The charges that Hankison faced carried a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Hankison was the only officer who fired his weapon the night of the Taylor raid to be criminally charged. Prosecutors determined that two other officers were justified in returning fire after one was shot in the leg.


Songer said Monday in the trial’s closing arguments that Hankison “was a law enforcement officer, but he was not above the law.” Songer argued that Hankison couldn’t see a target and knew firing blindly into the building was wrong.

Hankison’s attorney, Stewart Mathews, countered that he was acting quickly to help his fellow officers, who he believed were being “executed” by a gunman shooting from inside Taylor’s apartment. Taylor’s boyfriend had fired a single shot when police burst through the door. Her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, said he believed an intruder was barging in.

“If his perception was reasonable in the chaos of that moment, that was not criminal,” Mathews said.

The night of the raid, Hankison said he saw the shot from Taylor’s boyfriend in the hallway after her door was breached. He backed up and ran around the corner of the building, firing shots into the side of the apartment.


“I had to react,” he testified. “I had no choice.”

The single shot from Taylor’s boyfriend hit former police Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly, who dropped to the ground and fired six shots. Another officer, Myles Cosgrove, fired 16 rounds down the hallway, including the bullet that killed Taylor. Mattingly testified as a defence witness for Hankison in the federal trial, while Cosgrove was called to testify by prosecutors.

Cosgrove was fired by Louisville police along with Hankison. Mattingly retired.

Taylor’s death didn’t initially garner much attention, but after the death of George Floyd by Minneapolis police in May 2020 and the release of Taylor’s boyfriend’s 911 call, street protests over police brutality erupted around the country. Demonstrators in Louisville shouted Taylor’s name for months, along with high-profile Black celebrities like Oprah and Lebron James who demanded accountability for the police officers involved in the case.


Taylor’s case also cast intense scrutiny on so-called “no-knock” warrants, which were later banned in the city of Louisville. The warrants allow officers to enter a residence without warning, but in the Taylor raid officers said they knocked and announced their presence. The Louisville police chief at the time was subsequently fired because officers had not used body cameras the night of the raid.

Three other former officers involved in drawing up the warrant have been charged in a separate federal case. One of them, Kelly Goodlett, has pleaded guilty to helping falsify the warrant. She is expected to testify against former detective Joshua Jaynes and former Sgt. Kyle Meany in their trial next year.

Goodlett’s guilty plea remains the only criminal conviction of a police officer involved in the Taylor case.

Mistrial declared after federal jury deadlocks in trial of ex-officer in deadly Breonna Taylor raid

Jurors failed to reach a unanimous verdict in the trial of a former Louisville police officer charged in a raid that killed Breonna Taylor.

torontosun.com

 

[petros]

Mistrial declared after federal jury deadlocks in trial of ex-officer in deadly Breonna Taylor raid
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Dylan Lovan
Published Nov 16, 2023 • 4 minute read

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Jurors failed to reach a unanimous verdict on federal civil rights charges Thursday in the trial of a former Louisville police officer charged in the police raid that killed Breonna Taylor, prompting the judge to declare a mistrial.


Brett Hankison was charged with using excessive force that violated the rights of Taylor, her boyfriend and her next-door neighbours. Hankison fired 10 shots into the Black woman’s window and a glass door after officers came under fire during a flawed drug warrant search on March 13, 2020. Some of his shots flew into a neighbouring apartment, but none of them struck anyone.


The 12-member, mostly white jury struggled fruitlessly to reach a verdict over several days. On Thursday afternoon, they sent a note to the judge saying they were at an impasse. U.S. District Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings urged them to keep trying, and they returned to deliberations.


The judge reported there were “elevated voices” coming from the jury room at times during deliberations, and court security officials had to visit the room. Jurors then told the judge Thursday they were deadlocked on both counts against Hankison, and could not come to a decision — prompting Jennings’ declaration of a mistrial.


The mistrial could result in a retrial of Hankison, but that would be determined by federal prosecutors at a later date.

Federal prosecutors didn’t immediately respond to an email afterward seeking comment.

Before the mistrial was declared, the lead federal prosecutor, Michael Songer, said in court that it would take “enormous resources … to retry this case.” Songer wanted the jury to keep deliberating.

Jennings said she believed the jury would not be able to reach a verdict. “I think the totality of the circumstances may be beyond repair in this case,” the judge said. “They have a disagreement that they cannot get past.”

Lonita Baker, an attorney for Taylor’s family, said afterward that Taylor’s mother, Tamika Palmer, was disappointed with the outcome but remained encouraged “because a mistrial is not an acquittal. And so we live another day to fight for justice for Breonna.”


Hankison, 47, was acquitted by a Kentucky jury last year on wanton endangerment charges. State prosecutors had alleged he illegally put Taylor’s neighbours in danger. Months after his acquittal last year, the U.S. Department of Justice brought the new charges against Hankison, along with separate charges against a group of other officers involved in crafting the warrant.

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said Taylor, a 26-year-old nursing student, “should be alive today” when he announced the federal charges in August 2022. The charges that Hankison faced carried a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Hankison was the only officer who fired his weapon the night of the Taylor raid to be criminally charged. Prosecutors determined that two other officers were justified in returning fire after one was shot in the leg.


Songer said Monday in the trial’s closing arguments that Hankison “was a law enforcement officer, but he was not above the law.” Songer argued that Hankison couldn’t see a target and knew firing blindly into the building was wrong.

Hankison’s attorney, Stewart Mathews, countered that he was acting quickly to help his fellow officers, who he believed were being “executed” by a gunman shooting from inside Taylor’s apartment. Taylor’s boyfriend had fired a single shot when police burst through the door. Her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, said he believed an intruder was barging in.

“If his perception was reasonable in the chaos of that moment, that was not criminal,” Mathews said.

The night of the raid, Hankison said he saw the shot from Taylor’s boyfriend in the hallway after her door was breached. He backed up and ran around the corner of the building, firing shots into the side of the apartment.


“I had to react,” he testified. “I had no choice.”

The single shot from Taylor’s boyfriend hit former police Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly, who dropped to the ground and fired six shots. Another officer, Myles Cosgrove, fired 16 rounds down the hallway, including the bullet that killed Taylor. Mattingly testified as a defence witness for Hankison in the federal trial, while Cosgrove was called to testify by prosecutors.

Cosgrove was fired by Louisville police along with Hankison. Mattingly retired.

Taylor’s death didn’t initially garner much attention, but after the death of George Floyd by Minneapolis police in May 2020 and the release of Taylor’s boyfriend’s 911 call, street protests over police brutality erupted around the country. Demonstrators in Louisville shouted Taylor’s name for months, along with high-profile Black celebrities like Oprah and Lebron James who demanded accountability for the police officers involved in the case.


Taylor’s case also cast intense scrutiny on so-called “no-knock” warrants, which were later banned in the city of Louisville. The warrants allow officers to enter a residence without warning, but in the Taylor raid officers said they knocked and announced their presence. The Louisville police chief at the time was subsequently fired because officers had not used body cameras the night of the raid.

Three other former officers involved in drawing up the warrant have been charged in a separate federal case. One of them, Kelly Goodlett, has pleaded guilty to helping falsify the warrant. She is expected to testify against former detective Joshua Jaynes and former Sgt. Kyle Meany in their trial next year.

Goodlett’s guilty plea remains the only criminal conviction of a police officer involved in the Taylor case.

Mistrial declared after federal jury deadlocks in trial of ex-officer in deadly Breonna Taylor raid

Jurors failed to reach a unanimous verdict in the trial of a former Louisville police officer charged in a raid that killed Breonna Taylor.

torontosun.com

Good. No emotion based BS.

 

[Ron in Regina]

Brett Hankison was charged with using excessive force that violated the rights of Taylor, her boyfriend and her next-door neighbours. Hankison fired 10 shots into the Black woman’s window and a glass door after officers came under fire during a flawed drug warrant search on March 13, 2020. Some of his shots flew into a neighbouring apartment, but none of them struck anyone.

OK, that’s his 10 shots.

Hankison, 47, was acquitted by a Kentucky jury last year on wanton endangerment charges.

Did Hankison hit anyone with his 10 rounds or was he just firing blindly?

Hankison was the only officer who fired his weapon the night of the Taylor raid to be criminally charged.

Prosecutors determined that two other officers were justified in returning fire after one was shot in the leg.

This was one of those no-knock warrants, right? Where they just kick in your door and then start screaming and running around kicking in other doors?

Songer said Monday in the trial’s closing arguments that Hankison “was a law enforcement officer, but he was not above the law.” Songer argued that Hankison couldn’t see a target and knew firing blindly into the building was wrong.

Oh, ok, I should’ve read through the whole thing closer.

Hankinson’s attorney, Stewart Mathews, countered that he was acting quickly to help his fellow officers, who he believed were being “executed” by a gunman shooting from inside Taylor’s apartment.

Executed with the “one” shot the woman’s boyfriend fired at unannounced intruders in their home, assumably while they were in bed in the bedroom? Probably sleeping?

Taylor’s boyfriend had fired a single shot when police burst through the door. Her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, said he believed an intruder was barging in.

I would too. I get it. I hope Taylor’s boyfriend learned an important lesson about something or another.

The night of the raid, Hankison said he saw the shot (singular) from Taylor’s boyfriend in the hallway after her door was breached. He backed up and ran around the corner of the building, firing shots into the side of the apartment.

I guess that qualifies as firing blindly.

The single shot from Taylor’s boyfriend hit former police Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly, who dropped to the ground and fired six shots.

10 + 6 = 16 law enforcement shots so far then.

Another officer, Myles Cosgrove, fired 16 rounds down the hallway, including the bullet that killed Taylor.

16 + 16 more = 32 law enforcement rounds so far.

Taylor’s case also cast intense scrutiny on so-called “no-knock” warrants, which were later banned in the city of Louisville.

Guess that answers the above question. Not exactly on my game today.

The warrants allow officers to enter a residence without warning, but in the Taylor raid officers said they knocked and announced their presence.

So this one is a knocking-no-knock warrant then? If so, then why did they ban no-knock warrants? This doesn’t add up.

The Louisville police chief at the time was subsequently fired because officers had not used body cameras the night of the raid.

Happens all the time. Forgot my homework, etc…all of them, at the same time. Coincidentally coincidental.

Three other former officers involved in drawing up the warrant have been charged in a separate federal case. One of them, Kelly Goodlett, has pleaded guilty to helping falsify the warrant.

Wait, what? So they (the officers involved) knocked on a no-knock warrant that wasn’t a warrant because it was obtained under false premises? Did the three officers that enacted the “Non-Warrant Warrant” know this wasn’t a valid warrant?

Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old Black Americanwoman, was fatally shot in her Louisville, Kentucky apartment on March 13, 2020, when at least seven police officers forced entry into the apartment as part of an investigation into drug dealing operations. So Breonna Taylor or Boyfriend “One Shot Walker” where drug dealers then? And 7 officers broke in but what? Only three of them fired their weapons? What were the other four doing?

Taylor's boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, was inside the apartment with her when the plainclothes officers knocked on the door and then forced entry. The officers said that they announced themselves as police before forcing entry, but Walker said he did not hear any announcement, thought the officers were intruders, and fired a warning shot at them.

So, not in uniforms & breaking in, with knocking (on a No-Knock warrant) then identified themselves verbally that Walker couldn’t hear? If this is an apartment, they would have Neighbours and I’m assuming the neighbours heard this warning though?

The shot hit Mattingly in the leg, and the officers fired 32 shots in return…Because 32?

Walker was unhurt but Taylor, who was behind Walker, was hit by six bullets and died. I think I’ve seen this movie!!!

During the incident, Hankison moved to the side of the apartment and shot 10 bullets through a covered window and glass door. This while the other six officers, or just the other two, were still inside the apartment then?

According to police, Taylor's home was never searched. That makes sense since they didn’t have a valid search warrant from the sounds of things…Walker was charged with assault and attempted murder of a police officer, but the charges were dismissed with prejudice a year later.

In September, the city of Louisville agreed to pay Taylor's family $12 million and reform police practices. Why would the city of Louisville pay the family of drug dealers $12 million like something was really really wrong, or they weren’t drug dealers, or they never had a warrant, or some other reason???
The LMPD investigation's primary targets were Jamarcus Glover and Adrian Walker (not related to Kenneth Walker), who were suspected of selling controlled substancesfrom a drug house approximately 10 miles (16 km) away.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Breonna_Taylor

In a variety of statements, Glover said that Taylor had no involvement in the drug operations, that as a favor she held money from the proceeds for him, and that she handled money for him for other purposes. In different recorded jailhouse conversations, Glover said that Taylor had been handling his money and that she was holding $8,000 of it, that he had given Taylor money to pay phone bills, and that he had told his sister that another woman had been keeping the group's money.

Ahhhh….OK. Thus the false warrant & the seven unused/forgotten bodycams…

In the recorded conversations and in an interview with The Courier-Journal of Louisville, Glover repeatedly said that Taylor was not involved in any drug operations and that police had "no business" looking for him at her residence, and denied that he had said in the recorded conversations that he kept money at her residence. Taylor was never a co-defendant in Glover's case.

So was this a fishing expedition for a payday (?) that went wrong, because Walker was armed. Has this theory been explored? I’m just way too lazy to read the rest of the threat at this point.

 

[Tecumsehsbones]

I've always favored what they call the "Scottish verdict." In Scotland, the form of words they use isn't "Not guilty," it's "Guilt not proven."

Seems to apply here.

 

[spaminator]

After mistrial, feds move to retry ex-Louisville cop who fired shots in Breonna Taylor raid
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Dylan Lovan
Published Dec 13, 2023 • 1 minute read

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Federal prosecutors told a judge Wednesday they intend to retry former Louisville officer Brett Hankison after a jury deadlocked last month over charges he used excessive force the night Breonna Taylor was killed by police in 2020.


A judge declared a mistrial Nov. 16 after the jury deliberated for several days but could not reach a unanimous decision. Hankison fired 10 shots the night of the deadly raid but did not strike anyone. His shots went into Taylor’s apartment and into a neighboring unit, where a child was sleeping.


Federal prosecutor Michael Songer said during a status conference that “the government intends to retry the case.”

A new trial would be the third attempt to prosecute Hankison for his actions the night of the March 13, 2020, botched raid that left Taylor dead. He was acquitted last year on state charges of wanton endangerment for shooting into Taylor’s windows and a glass patio door.

U.S. District Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings set a tentative trial date for October 2024, but noted that could change as prosecutors were interested in retrying Hankison in the summer.


One of Hankison’s lawyers is also retiring and he may choose to replace all his counsel, lawyer Jack Byrd told the judge.

The 12-member, mostly white jury struggled to reach a verdict in Hankison’s trial last month. At one point, the judge said there were “elevated voices” coming from the deliberation room and court security had to be brought in.

Songer urged the judge to let the jury continue to deliberate, noting the “enormous resources” required to retry the case. In declaring the mistrial, Jennings said the jury members had a “disagreement they cannot get past.”

Hankison is the only officer who fired his weapon the night of the raid to be criminally charged. Prosecutors determined that two other officers were justified in returning fire after one was shot in the leg by Taylor’s boyfriend.

After mistrial, feds move to retry ex-Louisville cop who fired shots in Breonna Taylor raid

Federal prosecutors told a judge Wednesday they intend to retry former Louisville officer Brett Hankison after a jury deadlocked last month

torontosun.com

 

[spaminator]

Judge rules Breonna Taylor’s boyfriend caused her death
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Dylan Lovan
Published Aug 23, 2024 • 3 minute read

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A federal judge has thrown out major felony charges against two former Louisville officers accused of falsifying a warrant that led police to Breonna Taylor’s door before they fatally shot her.


U.S. District Judge Charles Simpson’s ruling declared that the actions of Taylor’s boyfriend, who fired a shot at police the night of the raid, were the legal cause of her death, not a bad warrant.

Federal charges against former Louisville Police Detective Joshua Jaynes and former Sgt. Kyle Meany were announced by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland in 2022 during a high-profile visit to Louisville. Garland accused Jaynes and Meany, who were not present at the raid, of knowing they had falsified part of the warrant and put Taylor in a dangerous situation by sending armed officers to her apartment.

But Simpson wrote in the Tuesday ruling that “there is no direct link between the warrantless entry and Taylor’s death.” Simpson’s ruling effectively reduced the civil rights violation charges against Jaynes and Meany, which had carried a maximum sentence of life in prison, to misdemeanors.


The judge declined to dismiss a conspiracy charge against Jaynes and another charge against Meany, who is accused of making false statements to investigators.

When police carrying a drug warrant broke down Taylor’s door in March 2020, her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, fired a shot that struck an officer in the leg. Walker said he believed an intruder was bursting in. Officers returned fire, striking and killing Taylor, a 26-year-old Black woman, in her hallway.

Simpson concluded that Walker’s “conduct became the proximate, or legal, cause of Taylor’s death.”

“While the indictment alleges that Jaynes and Meany set off a series of events that ended in Taylor’s death, it also alleges that (Walker) disrupted those events when he decided to open fire” on the police, Simpson wrote.


Walker was initially arrested and charged with attempted murder of a police officer, but that charge was later dropped after his attorneys argued Walker didn’t know he was firing at police.

“Obviously we are devastated at the moment by the judge’s ruling with which we disagree and are just trying to process everything,” Taylor’s family wrote in a statement Friday to The Associated Press. It said prosecutors told the family they plan to appeal Simpson’s ruling.

“The only thing we can do at this point is continue to be patient … we will continue to fight until we get full justice for Breonna Taylor.”

The U.S. Justice Department said in an email that it “is reviewing the judge’s decision and assessing next steps.”

A third former officer charged in the federal warrant case, Kelly Goodlett, pleaded guilty in 2022 to a conspiracy charge and is expected to testify against Jaynes and Meany at their trials.


Federal prosecutors alleged Jaynes, who drew up the Taylor warrant, had claimed to Goodlett days before the warrant was served that he had “verified” from a postal inspector that a suspected drug dealer was receiving packages at Taylor’s apartment. But Goodlett knew that was false and told Jaynes the warrant did not yet have enough information connecting Taylor to criminal activity, prosecutors said. She added a paragraph saying the suspected drug dealer was using Taylor’s apartment as his current address, according to court records.

Two months later, when the Taylor shooting was attracting national headlines, Jaynes and Goodlett met in Jaynes’ garage to “get on the same page” before Jaynes talked to investigators about the Taylor warrant, court records said.

A fourth former officer, Brett Hankison, was also charged by federal prosecutors in 2022 with endangering the lives of Taylor, Walker and some of her neighbors when he fired into Taylor’s windows. A trial last year ended with a hung jury, but Hankison is schedule to be retried on those charges in October.

Judge rules Breonna Taylor’s boyfriend caused her death

Dismisses some charges against ex-officers.

torontosun.com