(LOUISVILLE, Ky.) — Jury selection has been rescheduled to Thursday in the trial of a former Kentucky police officer who was involved in the botched raid that killed Breonna Taylor.
Brett Hankison’s trial was initially scheduled to begin Aug. 31, 2021, but was delayed due to COVID-19 restrictions. Now Hankison’s trial is being delayed due to an unscheduled recent surgery.
Hankison is charged with three counts of wanton endangerment for firing into a neighboring apartment while serving a “no-knock” warrant on Taylor’s apartment on March 13, 2020.
He and Louisville Metro Police Department officers Myles Cosgrove and Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly fired 32 shots into Taylor’s apartment.
Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron has called Taylor’s death a “tragedy” but defended the officers’ decision to shoot. None have been charged with Taylor’s killing.
“Our investigation found that Mattingly and Cosgrove were justified in their use of force after having been fired upon by Kenneth Walker,” Cameron said. “This justification bars us from pursuing charges in Ms. Breonna Taylor’s death.”
Hankison fired 10 of the shots into Taylor’s apartment. Errant bullets penetrated a wall of the residence and entered a neighboring apartment that was occupied by a child, a man and a pregnant woman, according to Cameron.
Taylor, a Black 26-year-old emergency medical technician, was fatally shot multiple times during the raid. No drugs were found in her apartment.
Cameron said none of Hankison’s shots struck Taylor.
Hankison has pleaded not guilty. If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison.
“Our hope is that we can pick an impartial jury,” Hankison’s lawyer Stew Mathews told ABC News. “We’re going to both defend [against] the charges in the courtroom.”
The fatal shooting sparked protests nationwide, as demonstrators demanded action against police brutality and racism in policing.
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