LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A federal jury on Friday convicted a former Kentucky police detective of using excessive force on Breonna Taylor during a botched 2020 drug raid that left her dead.
The 12-member jury returned the late-night verdict after clearing Brett Hankison earlier in the evening on a charge that he used excessive force on Taylor’s neighbors.
It’s the first conviction of a Louisville police officer who was involved in the deadly raid.
Some members of the jury were in tears as the verdict was read around 9:30 p.m. Friday. They had earlier indicated to the judge in two separate messages that they were deadlocked on the charge of using excessive force Taylor but chose to continue deliberating. The six man, six woman jury deliberated for more than 20 hours over three days.
Hankison fired 10 shots into Taylor’s glass door and windows during the raid, but didn’t hit anyone. Some shots flew into a next-door neighbor’s adjoining apartment.
The death of the 26-year-old Black woman, along with the May 2020 police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, sparked racial injustice protests nationwide.