A former Kentucky police officer has been sentenced to 33 months in federal prison for violating civil rights during the 2020 raid that led to the death of Breonna Taylor in her Louisville apartment.
Brett Hankison was found guilty last year of using excessive force during the raid.
He fired multiple shots blindly into Taylor’s apartment, with some bullets entering a neighboring unit where a pregnant woman and a child were sleeping.
Though none of Hankison’s shots struck anyone, the court found that his actions were reckless and unlawful.
The judge also ordered that Hankison serve three years of supervised release following his prison term.
This sentencing follows a change in position from the Justice Department, which had shifted its recommendation after Donald Trump returned to the presidency.
While the Biden administration originally brought the charges against Hankison, the Trump-led department later requested that he receive just a one-day prison sentence.
Officials argued that since Hankison did not shoot Taylor and was not directly responsible for her death, a longer sentence was unnecessary.
The new recommendation sparked criticism from Taylor’s family and civil rights advocates, who viewed it as a sign of retreat from federal efforts to hold officers accountable in high-profile police misconduct cases.
Taylor was killed during a no-knock raid in March 2020, when plainclothes officers entered her apartment believing it was linked to a drug investigation.
Her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, fired one shot, thinking intruders were breaking in. Police returned fire with 32 bullets, fatally shooting Taylor.
Hankison’s sentencing is the only conviction so far tied directly to the raid.
Another former officer, Kelly Goodlett, admitted to helping falsify the search warrant affidavit and will be sentenced next year.
Since taking office, the Trump administration has moved to reverse many of the civil rights investigations launched under President Biden.
Several cases against police departments have been dropped, and many attorneys from the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division have resigned since the administration change.