Attorney calls jurors who wanted to acquit cop involved in raid on Breonna Taylor 'less-than-patriotic fellow Americans'

A federal jury deadlocked in the case against one of the former Louisville police officers who was involved in the deadly raid on Breonna Taylor's home several years ago. After the judge declared a mistrial, an attorney representing some of the victims took aim at the jurors who had voted to acquit, questioning their loyalty to America and the Constitution.

Brett Hankison was one of seven Louisville Metro Police Department officers who showed up at Breonna Taylor's apartment shortly after midnight on March 13, 2020, to serve a drug-related search warrant to Taylor's ex-boyfriend Jamarcus Glover. Officers claimed to have identified themselves before breaking down the door, but Taylor's boyfriend at the time, Kenneth Walker III, allegedly did not hear the warning and fired at officers, believing them to be intruders.

Walker's shot injured one of the officers, and the seven cops, including Hankison, returned fire. Hankison fired 10 rounds through a window, though none of his bullets struck a human being. Some of his shots did go through a wall that Taylor shared with the apartment next door. Inside that apartment were a man named Cody Etherton, a woman named Chelsey Napper, and an unnamed 3-year-old boy, court documents said.

Six bullets fired from other officers' weapons struck and killed Taylor. Walker was not injured in the incident. Glover, the subject of the warrant, was not at the premises that night, and no drugs or drug paraphernalia were ever recovered from Taylor's residence.

Hankison was fired from the department a few months after the shooting and was the only cop involved in the incident who was tried at the state level. State jurors took just three hours to acquit him of charges related to wanton endangerment. After that acquittal, federal prosecutors decided to charge Hankison with violating the civil rights of Taylor, Walker, and the neighbors by using "unconstitutionally excessive force."

The federal trial against Hankison took three weeks and about two dozen witnesses before it was handed over to the jury, made up of one black man, five white men, and six white women. Jurors then deliberated for three days, during which time, they requested a copy of a court transcript, a request which Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings denied.

Jurors then warned the judge that they were having difficulty reaching a unanimous verdict, so Judge Jennings issued an Allen charge in the hopes of compelling them to come to a consensus, but it did not work. At the end of the day on Thursday, Jennings declared a mistrial.

Former LMPD officer Myles Cosgrove says Brett Hankison was 'reckless' during Breonna Taylor raidwww.youtube.com

Attorneys representing the victims quickly issued statements to the media that criticized either the makeup or opinions of the jurors. In her statement, Lonita Baker, who is representing the Taylor family, implied that there were too many white people on the jury: "The Western District is made up of more than just Louisville, and we recognize that, but hopefully on the next trial, the jury does reflect the diversity of this city and the Western District of Kentucky."

Jeffery Sexton, who is representing Taylor's former neighbors, Etherton and Napper, went even farther, claiming that the jurors who wanted to acquit Hankison were "less-than-patriotic fellow Americans" who tried to "throw" the Constitution "in the trash can."

"Some of those deadlocked jurors are heroes," Sexton said. "They stood up for the Constitution. They said, 'No!' when some of their less-than-patriotic fellow Americans on that jury wanted to wad it up and throw it in the trash can."

While Sexton lamented that "there are no winners in a tie" and "there is no expiration date for the harm Hankison caused" Etherton and Napper, attorney Baker expressed optimism that Hankison might be convicted someday soon. "A mistrial is not an acquittal," she said. "And so we live another day to fight for justice for Breonna."

Baker also indicated she has good reason to hope. "As it stands right now, the assistant U.S. attorneys from the Department of Justice did indicate that it is their intention to retry Brett Hankison in this case," Baker said.

Judge Jennings has scheduled a conference date for December 13.

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