A jury began deliberations in the federal civil trial of former Louisville Police Officer Brett Hankison after prosecutors rested their case Monday by alleging he “blindly” opened fire during a botched drug raid that killed Breonna Taylor more than three years ago.
During closing arguments, Justice Department attorneys accused Hankison of “spraying bullets through two covered windows, ripping through walls into a neighboring apartment” where another family was sleeping on March 13, 2020, when several members of a local drug enforcement unit, armed with improperly obtained warrant, arrived at the address and opened fire.
Further, prosecutors argued, Hankison failed to identify a specific target at the scene after he testified he was unable to discern who he was firing at or the precise location of shots, endangering multiple lives.
Hankison also took the stand in his own defense on the 10th day of the trial in which the 47-year-old former officer is accused of violating Taylor’s civil rights and faces up to life in prison if found guilty under a federal indictment handed down in August 2022.
The judge will rule in issuing the final sentence, but for now, the jury is still out on Hankison’s fate.
Deliberations began at 5 p.m. Monday and ended an hour later as the jury adjourned for the day. The members resumed the closed-door talks on Tuesday.
In a final appeal to the jury, prosecutors recalled testimony by several deputies who approached Taylor’s dwelling alongside Hankison that night, describing his actions as “shocking,” “unfathomably dangerous,” and “stomach-churning.”
“He didn’t care because he was angry that someone was firing at the police,” prosecutor Michael Songer said in summing up the government’s case, adding that firing indiscriminately into a dwelling contradicted Hankison’s training and breached the oath of office he took to protect the public. “He assumed his fellow officers would…
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