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July 22, 2025

Ex-Officer in Breonna Taylor Killing Sentenced to 33 Months in Prison
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A federal judge in Kentucky on Monday sentenced former Louisville police
officer Brett Hankison to 33 months in prison for using excessive force
during the deadly police raid that killed Breonna Taylor in her own
home. U.S. District Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings rejected prosecutors'
recommendation to have Hankison sentenced to just one day in prison,
calling the effort "not appropriate." Hankison fired 10 bullets during
the no-knock raid in March 2020 - some of which penetrated the walls of
a neighbor's home where a family was sleeping. Taylor was a Black,
26-year-old emergency room technician, whose killing in 2020 sparked
nationwide racial justice protests under the banner "Black Lives
Matter." Civil rights attorney Ben Crump spoke after Monday's
sentencing.

Benjamin Crump: "Breonna Taylor's killing, five years later, is telling
us a lot at which direction we're going to go. Are we going to continue
to be a democracy that upholds the objective of liberty and justice for
all, or are we going to descend into being a police state where the
police can do anything?"

Louisville Metro Police arrested four protesters who blocked traffic
outside the federal court where Hankison was sentenced Monday. Among
those arrested was Bianca Austin, Breonna Taylor's aunt.


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