The Justice Department is recommending that a police officer involved in the raid that killed Brianna Taylor serve just one day in prison.
In March 2020, former Louisville police officer Brent Hankison was part of a team of officers that executed a no knock warrant at Taylor’s home linked to her ex-boyfriend, a convicted felon suspected of supplying a local drug house.
Hankison reportedly fired 10 shots through Taylor’s apartment’s window and door, which were covered with shades and curtains. None of the bullets he fired hit anyone, but they went through Taylor’s apartment and a wall it shared with another unit.
Taylor was killed by another officer, John Mattingly, who returned fire after Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, a licensed firearm holder fired a warning shot thinking someone was trying to break into their apartment.
In November, a federal jury found that Hankison violated Taylor’s civil rights during the raid. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Late Wednesday night, the Trump administration recommended a one day prison sentence for Hankison, arguing that the Biden administration should not have prosecuted the officer on the civil rights charges, according to the Washington Post.
In the sentencing memo to the judge explaining their decision, Harmeet Dhillon, the head of the civil rights division who was appointed by Trump, said the conviction means Hankison will likely never work as a police officer again or own a firearm even though he did not fire the shot that killed Taylor.
“Although he was part of the team executing the warrant, Defendant Hankison did not shoot Ms. Taylor and is not otherwise responsible for her death,” the memo says. “Defendant Hankison did not wound her or anyone else at the scene that day, although he did discharge his duty weapon ten times blindly into Ms. Taylor’s home.”
Samantha Trepel — a former Justice Department civil rights attorney who prosecuted officers who were found guilty of violating George Floyd’s civil rights in Minneapolis — said the Trump Justice Department is setting a dangerous precedent.
“The court will recognize this for what it is — transparent, last minute political interference into a case that was tried by non-political, longtime career prosecutors who obtained this conviction in front of an all-white jury of Kentucky citizens before a Trump-appointed judge,” Trepel wrote on LinkedIn, per the Post.
“It is a betrayal of the jury’s verdict, which included a special finding that the officer’s conducted amounted to attempted murder,” she continued. “It is a betrayal of the brave officers who took the witness stand and testified that this officer’s conduct endangered lives and violated basic, fundamental policies and training.”
