Justice for Breonna Taylor!
The jury selection has been rescheduled to Thursday (February 3) in the trial of a former Kentucky police officer Brett Hankison. Hankison was involved in the botched raid that killed Taylor, 26, on March 13, 2020.
Hankison’s trial was initially scheduled for last summer but was delayed due to COVID-19. ABC reports that Hankison’s trial is getting delayed again due to a recent unscheduled surgery.
The disgraced former cop is charged with three counts of wanton endangerment for firing into a neighboring apartment while serving a “no-knock” warrant on Taylor’s apartment in 2020. He plus Louisville Metro Police Department officers Myles Cosgrove and Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly fired 32 shots into Taylor’s apartment. The cops were executing a search warrant to enter Taylor’s home; however, the police were searching in the wrong house.
No one was ever charged for killing Taylor. Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron called Taylor’s death a “tragedy” but defended the officers’ decision to shoot. Cameron said none of Hankison’s shots struck Taylor. Hankison and Cosgrove were fired from the force. Mattingly retired last June. Hankison pleaded not guilty. If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison.
At the time of the killing, authorities were investigating two men who they believed were selling drugs out of a house far from Ms. Taylor’s home, NY Times reports. The cops suspected one of the suspects used Taylor’s home to receive packages. When cops entered Breonna’s home, her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, who thought an intruder was breaking in, fired the first shot, which caused police to shoot back. Walker is licensed to carry. Walker claims the police never announced themselves, but the police claim they did.
At the time, Walker was charged with firing at Sargeant Mattingly. Walker was facing an assault and attempted murder charge. Initially, Walker’s charges were dropped without prejudice in 2020, but it meant he could face the charges again. Last year, a judge dismissed them permanently. In the latest update, Kenneth is reportedly suing Louisville for falsely arresting him.
Taylor was an emergency medical technician with no criminal history and was unarmed. No drugs were found in her home. Louisville gave Breonna’s family a multi-million dollar wrongful death settlement, but they didn’t actually hold anyone accountable for the “wrongful death.” Last year, Kentucky lawmakers passed a partial ban on no-knock warrants.
Jury questioning delayed in case related to Breonna Taylor https://t.co/PQ4GBxeaUm pic.twitter.com/7EwDah5IWa
— New York Post (@nypost) February 1, 2022