The prior alleged wrongdoing of a former Louisville police officer accused of violating the civil rights of Breonna Taylor, her boyfriend and their neighbors in 2020, when Taylor was shot and killed in a botched police raid, can’t be launched as proof within the ex-officer’s trial, a federal decide dominated Thursday, in line with WHAS11, the ABC affiliate in Louisville protecting the case within the courtroom.
The USA authorities filed the movement in August introducing two acts of alleged misconduct by Brett Hankison whereas he was employed as a Louisville police officer. In line with court docket paperwork, Hankison was a part of a narcotics investigation in 2016 the place he drew his handgun and ran between a suspect and members of the particular weapons and ways unit (SWAT) who had their rifles drawn.
Within the second incident, Hankison allegedly had his gun identified of his automotive window in 2017, blocked in a buyer at a barbershop who was making an attempt to go away and commenced yelling at individuals within the store, blowing the SWAT group’s undercover operation, in line with court docket paperwork.
On March 13, 2020, Louisville officers carried out a raid of Taylor’s house at round 12:45 a.m. When officers broke down the door to the house, Kenneth Walker, Taylor’s boyfriend, considering it was an intruder, fired a single gunshot utilizing a legally bought firearm, hitting the primary officer on the door. Two Louisville officers then fired a complete of twenty-two pictures into the house, certainly one of which hit Taylor within the chest, in line with data filed by the Justice Division. Not one of the bullets fired by Hankison, who was outdoors the house, struck anybody.
Within the Breonna Taylor case, Hankison was charged in a two-count indictment for deprivation of rights beneath shade of regulation, each of that are civil rights offenses, in August 2022. In line with court docket paperwork, he was charged with willfully depriving Taylor and Walker of their constitutional proper to be free from unreasonable seizures, which incorporates the suitable to be free from a police officer’s use of unreasonable power throughout a seizure.
Former Louisville Police Officer Brett Hankison discusses the muzzle flashes that he noticed coming from the house as he’s questioned by the prosecution in Louisville, Ky., Wednesday, March 2, 2022.
Timothy D. Easley, Pool through AP
In line with court docket transcripts, he was additionally charged with willfully depriving Taylor’s neighbors Chelsey Napper, Cody Etherton and Zayden Flournoy of their proper to be free from the deprivation of liberty with out due strategy of regulation, which incorporates the suitable to be free from a police officer’s use of unjustified power that shocks the conscience.
Hankison’s federal trial, which is the third try to convict him for his actions within the Taylor taking pictures, is ready to start on Tuesday. A federal trial final 12 months led to a mistrial when the jury reached an deadlock as a result of they weren’t in a position to attain a unanimous choice. Hankison was acquitted of a number of wanton endangerment state expenses in March 2022.
United States District Court docket Decide Rebecca Jennings granted the prosecution’s movement to exclude references to Hankison’s prior court docket proceedings in his upcoming trial, in line with WHAS11.
In court docket testimony final 12 months, Hankison said that he didn’t have a transparent goal as he fired 10 rounds into the facet wall of Taylor’s house in March 2020. The bullets additionally went by a neighbor’s house.
“I couldn’t,” Hankison replied when requested by the prosecution throughout a earlier trial if he might see an overview of an individual by the window blinds when he fired his pictures. He added that he couldn’t see an precise particular person or weapon, in line with court docket paperwork.
Hankison claimed that he noticed muzzle flashes coming from inside the house and believed the menace was shifting up the hallway and advancing on the officers from Hankison’s place outdoors, in line with court docket transcripts.
“You were not there,” Hankison informed prosecutors. “You do not know what I noticed …”
Hankison said that he now is aware of that the muzzle flashes had been coming from his fellow officers, who had been standing within the doorway of the house’s entrance entrance, in line with court docket paperwork. Hankison mentioned, on the time, he thought his fellow officers had been being executed.
A photograph of Breonna Taylor is seen amongst different pictures of ladies who’ve misplaced their lives on account of violence in the course of the 2nd Annual Defend Black Ladies March in Black Lives Matter Plaza, July 30, 2022, in Washington.
Leigh Vogel/Getty Photos for Frontline Motion Hub
The prosecutor said that Hankison’s spent shell casings weren’t discovered close to the sidewalk near the house the place Hankison claimed to be when he fired. They had been discovered behind a grey truck within the parking zone, in line with court docket transcripts.
The prosecution referenced testimonies from former Sgt. John Mattingly and Etherton, Taylor’s neighbor, who said that there was a pause between the time officers within the doorway completed taking pictures and when Hankison started firing his 10 rounds from the facet of the house, in line with court docket paperwork.
The protection mentioned the prosecution took Mattingly and Etherton’s statements out of context and did not have the mandatory proof to assert there was a pause between Hankison’s fellow officers’ pictures and his personal gunfire, in line with court docket transcripts. Hankison mentioned he stopped taking pictures after he noticed there have been no extra muzzle flashes contained in the house. He testified that he thought he neutralized the menace.
The prosecution argued if the officers had stopped taking pictures earlier than Hankison started, there would have been no muzzles for him to see and goal, making his taking pictures unjustified, in line with court docket paperwork.
Neither the prosecution, protection, nor Taylor’s household’s attorneys instantly responded to ABC Information’ request for statements.
Prosecutors filed new expenses final week in opposition to Kyle Meany and Jason Jaynes, two former Louisville officers accused of acquiring false warrants for Taylor’s house, in line with AP Information.
A federal decide dropped expenses in August in opposition to Meany and Jaynes, in line with court docket paperwork.
The decide said that the choice of Walker to open hearth when officers entered the house “prompted the return hearth which hit and killed Taylor,” in line with court docket paperwork.
The brand new expenses embody extra allegations about how the previous officers allegedly falsified the affidavit for the warrant, in line with AP Information.
Each ex-officers knew the affidavit they used to acquire the search warrant contained deceptive data and and that it lacked the mandatory possible trigger, in line with prosecutors.
Jaynes nonetheless faces misdemeanor expenses of violating Taylor’s proper to be free from an unreasonable search, a felony cost to cowl up data from the FBI after the taking pictures and a felony cost to impede the FBI’s investigation, in line with court docket paperwork. Meany nonetheless faces an indictment that he lied to the FBI.
Former Louisville officer Kelly Goodlett pleaded responsible in August 2022 of conspiring to falsify an affidavit to acquire a warrant to go looking Taylor’s house with out possible trigger and to cowl up the false warrant by mendacity to legal investigators after Taylor was killed, in line with the DOJ.
A pretrial convention centered on jury questionnaires befell Friday in Hankison’s case, in line with WHAS11. The trial begins on Tuesday with jury choice, in line with the courts.
ABC Information’ Stephanie Maurice and Deena Zaru contributed to this report.
