Black History

Former Ky. Officer Guilty In Breonna Taylor Death

Four years after the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor, a former Louisville police officer has been convicted of civil rights violations. Despite the conviction, questions persist about the delays in holding police accountable for killings involving Black victims.

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By Rosaland Tyler
Associate Editor
New Journal and Guide

About four years after a Louisville officer opened fire on Breonna Taylor in her own Louisville apartment, jurors convicted the killer; but is it time to do better?

George Floyd’s killer, Derek Chauvin, a former Minneapolis police officer, was convicted in 2021, after he shot and killed Floyd in 2020. Chauvin, 45, was convicted of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. Jurors deliberated for more than 10 hours over two days before coming to their decision, according to news reports.

Earlier, James Earl Ray stood before a Memphis judge in March 1969 and pleaded guilty to the Rev. Dr. Martin L. King’s 1968 murder in order to avoid the electric chair. Ray was sentenced to 99 years in prison.

Why does it take so long to convict a White who kills a Black?

Consider the facts: About four years after Taylor’s shooting, in 2020, a 12-member, federal jury finally convicted a former Kentucky police detective of using excessive force on Taylor during a botched 2020 drug raid that left her dead.

Former Louisville police officer Brett Hankinson, 48, fired 10 shots into Taylor’s glass door and windows during the raid. The conviction against Hankison carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. He will be sentenced on March 12 by U.S. District Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings.

“We hope the jury’s verdict recognizing this violation of Ms. Taylor’s civil and constitutional rights brings some small measure of comfort to her family and loved ones who have suffered so deeply from the tragic events of March 2020,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.

Hankison “violated one of the most fundamental rules of deadly force: If they cannot see the person they’re shooting at, they cannot pull the trigger.”

In 2022, the federal government filed civil rights charges against four Louisville police officers over the drug raid that led to Taylor’s death in 2020.

The charges – most of which stem from the faulty drug warrant used to search Taylor’s home – are an effort to hold law enforcement accountable for the killing of the 26-year-old medical worker.