LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A day after a mistrial was declared in Brett Hankison's federal civil rights trial, a Department of Justic spkesperson tells Spectrum News 1, " The Department of Justice is actively considering all of our available options."
The mistrial could result in a retrial of Hankison, but that would be determined by federal prosecutors at a later date.
After four days of deliberation, the jury told the judge they were deadlocked and a mistrial was declared Thursday.
Hankison was charged with violating Breonna Taylor’s civil rights by opening fire on her apartment the night she was killed in a botched raid.
The two counts of civil rights violations against him carried a maximum penalty of life in prison if he was convicted. The mistrial could result in a retrial of Hankison, but that would be determined by federal prosecutors at a later date.
Reaction poured in immediately following the verdict.
Attorney for Breonna Taylor’s family Lonita Baker said the prosecutors plan to retry Brett Hankison.
“Of course, Ms. (Tamika) Palmer was disappointed but still encouraged because we – you know a mistrial is not an acquittal and so we live another day to fight for justice for Breonna and that’s what she’s going to continue to do is fight justice for Breonna Taylor and encouraged that the AUSAs are going to retry,” Baker said.
Baker said she hopes to see a more diverse jury in the next trial. Sixteen people made up the jury, six women and one Black person.
Supporters and activists for Breonna Taylor are left disappointed with the outcome.
“I feel like we failed the family of Breonna Taylor, Kenneth Walker, Cody, his girlfriend and his son,” said Aprile Hearne, a Louisville activist.
“And I’m even going to say the officers whose lives was in danger on that night as well. I feel like justice should have been served. Everything that we’ve seen in this trial, all of the evidence was there to show that their rights was not respected,” Hearn said.
Hearn is the activist who helped create Breewayy, which are the streets around Jefferson Square Park in downtown Louisville, featuring banners honoring Taylor and others.
“I don’t even want to look from a Black-and-white perspective. I don’t want to look at it from a poor or rich perspective. What happened at that apartment that night (March 13, 2020) was wrong. This is a matter of right and wrong and Brett Hankison deserves to be held accountable and he needs to be sentenced, to be punished for what he did,” Hearn said.
It’s a fight that will continue.
“We’re going to continue to fight this until we get justice. We’re going to continue to fight it until we get justice and we ain’t letting up,” Hearn added.
A federal prosecutor said in closing arguments Monday that Hankison “sent bullets flying” into Taylor’s apartment and an adjoining apartment. Jurors heard earlier that none of the shots he fired struck anyone, despite rounds straying into another apartment where a couple with a child lived.
Prosecutor Michael Songer said that Hankison’s actions “dishonored” other police officers, adding that the role of police is to protect human life and that Hankison knew that “firing blindly was wrong.”
Hankison was one of four former officers charged by the U.S. Department of Justice last year with violating Taylor’s civil rights, accused of endangering Taylor, her boyfriend and Taylor’s neighbors, who shared a wall with her apartment.
Defense attorney Stewart Mathews, in his closing arguments, urged jurors to consider what Hankison encountered — the “chaos he was surrounded with.”
“He reacted by trying to protect the lives of his fellow officers and himself,” Mathews said.
Hankison’s response to “what he perceived was reasonable, not criminal,” Mathews added.
Earlier, under questioning from his attorney, Hankison said he opened fire to “stop the threat” posed by the shooter in Taylor’s apartment. He did so, he said, to “defend my life” and the lives of his fellow officers. His comments wrapped up testimony in the trial.
Taylor was shot to death by officers who were executing a drug search warrant, which was later found to be flawed. Taylor’s boyfriend fired a single shot that hit one officer as they came through the door of the apartment, and officers returned fire, striking Taylor in the apartment hallway multiple times. The other 32 bullets fired in the raid came from police, investigators determined.
When gunfire erupted, Hankison ran to the side of the apartment and sprayed bullets through Taylor’s windows. Officers found no drugs or long guns in Taylor’s apartment.
Earlier, under questioning from a federal prosecutor Monday, Hankison testified he did not see a shooter when he fired through Taylor’s covered window and sliding door, and said he did not know exactly where the shooter was inside the apartment, but saw muzzle flashes from gunfire. Hankison said in earlier testimony that he could see a shooter in the hallway before he rounded the corner of the apartment and fired into the glass door and windows.
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 2022, remarking that Taylor “should be alive today.”
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 and is expected to testify against former detective Joshua Jaynes and former Sgt. Kyle Meany in their trial next year.