Federal judge ignores Trump DOJ’s request to take a one-day police sentence for Brenna Taylor’s attack

Brett Hankison, who fired 10 shots during the attack but didn’t hit anyone, was the only officer at the scene where he was charged with the death of a black woman. He is the first to be sentenced to prison in a lawsuit that rocked the city of Louisville and created weeks of street protests over police brutality that year.

US District Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings said in Hankison’s sentence that prison time was “not appropriate” and would minimize the ju-seeker verdict from November. Jennings said no more people were injured in the attack from Hankison’s blind shot.

She sentenced Hankison to the 49-year-old prison for a conviction of excessive use of force, accompanied by three years of supervised probation to comply with prison term. He does not report directly to prison. The U.S. Bureau of Prisons will decide where he will begin his sentence, Jennings said.

The judge who presided over two of Hankison’s trials expressed disappointment last week at the recommendation of a ruling by federal prosecutors, saying the Justice Department treats Hankison’s actions as “insignificant crimes,” and that some of the arguments were “inappropriate and inappropriate.”

Civil rights lawyer Ben Crump, who helped Taylor’s family secure a settlement of $12 million in illegal deaths against the city of Louisville, was called “a humiliation for Breana Taylor’s life and a blatant betrayal of the ju-cited decision.”

Crump said at the hearing Monday that he wanted a longer sentence, but “he was grateful that (Hankison) had to go to prison at least and think about Brenna Taylor for three years, and that her life was important.”

Later, before the crowd outside the courthouse, Crump sang a familiar chant, “Say her name.” The crowd cried out: “Breana Taylor!” And he and other members of the Taylor family’s legal team issued subsequent statements criticizing the Department of Justice.

“The sentence today is not what we wanted, but it doesn’t fully reflect the severity of the harm caused — it’s more than the Justice Department wanted. It’s a statement in itself,” the statement said.

A 10-shot of Hankison on a night in March 2020 passed through the walls of Taylor’s apartment and jumped into a nearby apartment, with the family next door narrowly missing.

The 26-year-old’s death, along with the police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, sparked nationwide protests of racial injustice and police brutality that year.

However, the Justice Department has not sought Hankison’s prison time in a sudden front by federal prosecutors after the department has spent years of prosecutors under new leadership since President Donald Trump took office in January. They proposed that they had already reached a day and served three years of supervised probation.

Taylor’s mother, Tamika Palmer, said she was disappointed that the new federal prosecutors assigned to the case were not pushing for a more severe sentence. In many cases within courtroom Monday, Reed federal prosecutor Rob Keenan agreed with Hankison’s defense attorney on factors that reduced Hankison’s penalty.

“There were no charges there for us,” Palmer said afterwards. “Brett had his own defense team. I didn’t know he had a second team.”

Taylor was shot in the hallway by two police officers after her boyfriend fired from inside the apartment and attacked a foot officer. None of the other officers were charged in state or federal court after prosecutors found it justified by returning fire to their apartment. Louisville police used a drug warrant to enter Taylor’s apartment, but no drugs or cash were found inside.

Another ju umpire was stuck in a federal charge against Hankison in 2023, and he was acquitted in 2022 of Wonton’s danger state charges.

In a memo in the recent ruling, federal prosecutors wrote that Hankison “reactions in these difficult circumstances are irrational given the benefits of hindsight, but irrational reactions did not kill or hurt her boyfriend, neighbor, fellow officers of the defendant, or anyone else.”

Jennings confirmed on Monday that the officer was provoked by the gunshots of Taylor’s boyfriend, but said “it doesn’t allow the officers to do what they want and then make excuses.”

During the hearings, Louisville police arrested four people in front of the courthouse, saying they “create conflicts, kick vehicles or create an unsafe environment.” The authorities did not list any claims against them.

Federal prosecutors argued that multiple factors, including the two other Hankison trials that ended without conviction, should significantly reduce potential penalties. They also claimed he was susceptible to prison abuse and suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder.

The memorandum of the ruling was filed in May by Hermeet Dillon, the Chief of Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice, and Trump’s political appointees. Moved to cancel the villages between Louisville and Minneapolis It was asking for an overhaul of their police station.

In Taylor’s case, three other former Louisville police officers were He was charged with creating a forged warrantHowever, he has not gone to court. Taylor was not at the scene where he was shot. The warrant used to enter her apartment was one of five people issued that night seeking evidence about the drug dealer Taylor allegedly associated with.