Ex-Officer Sentenced 33 Months for Breonna Taylor Raid Excessive Force

Brett Hankison, a former Louisville police officer involved in the 2020 raid that resulted in Breonna Taylor's death, has been sentenced to 33 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for using excessive force. Although Hankison did not fire the shots that killed Taylor, he indiscriminately fired 10 bullets through her apartment walls, endangering neighbors and violating Taylor's civil rights. The sentence was notably harsher than the Trump administration Justice Department's recommendation of just one day of time served, which U.S. District Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings rejected as minimizing the severity of Hankison's actions. The judge criticized the DOJ's sentencing memorandum as inappropriate and incongruous, emphasizing that the crime was not inconsequential and expressing surprise that no one else was harmed. Civil rights attorney Ben Crump condemned the DOJ's leniency as a betrayal of justice and led chants of "Say her name: Breonna Taylor" following the sentencing, underscoring the national significance of Taylor's death in the ongoing fight against police brutality and racial injustice. Hankison's prison term marks the first jail sentence handed down in connection with the raid that sparked widespread protests and calls for police reform.