Brett Hankison Sentenced To Nearly 3 Years In Prison
Brett Hankison Sentenced To Nearly 3 Years In Breonna Taylor Case, Taylor’s Aunt Arrested Outside Courtroom
Last week, we reported that the MAGA-fied U.S. Department of “Justice” recommended that former Louisville police officer Brett Hankison should only receive a 24-hour sentence after he was found guilty last November of one count of civil rights abuse in connection with the violent death of Breonna Taylor. On Monday, a federal judge decided to ignore the political prying of the DOJ and sentenced Hankison to just under three years in prison for using excessive force during the deadly, bullet-ridden raid on Taylor’s home.
From CNN:
US District Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings, in sentencing Hankison, said no prison time “is not appropriate” and would minimize the jury’s verdict from November. Jennings said she was “startled” there weren’t more people injured in the raid from Hankison’s blind shots.
She sentenced Hankison, 49, to 33 months in prison for the conviction of use of excessive force with three years of supervised probation to follow the prison term. He will not report directly to prison. The US Bureau of Prisons will determine where and when he starts his sentence, Jennings said.
The judge, who presided over two of Hankison’s trials, expressed disappointment with a sentencing recommendation by federal prosecutors last week, saying the Justice Department was treating Hankison’s actions as “an inconsequential crime” and said some of its arguments were “incongruous and inappropriate.”
Hankison is the first and only ex-officer to receive prison time for crimes related to Taylor’s death, including the officers who conspired to falsify an affidavit to obtain the search warrant for the 26-year-old’s home in the first place. It’s bare-minimum justice that is long overdue.
In fact, Taylor’s mother, Tamika Palmer, doesn’t appear to believe her daughter received any true justice at all. According to CNN, she told reporters she was disappointed that the new federal prosecutors assigned to the case were not pushing for a lengthier sentence, noting that during the sentencing hearing, lead federal prosecutor Rob Keenan agreed with Hankison’s defense attorneys on arguments that would have reduced Hankison’s sentence.
“There was no prosecution in there for us,” Palmer said. “Brett had his own defense team. I didn’t know he got a second one.”
Federal prosecutors wrote in their sentencing memo that though Hankison’s “response in these fraught circumstances was unreasonable given the benefit of hindsight, that unreasonable response did not kill or wound Breonna Taylor, her boyfriend, her neighbors, defendant’s fellow officers, or anyone else.” Judge Jennings appeared to agree that officers were prompted to shoot after Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, fired the first shot, but said “that does not allow officers to then do what they want and then be excused.” (To be clear, Walker, who was ultimately cleared of any wrongdoing, told officers he didn’t hear any cops announce themselves before breaking through Taylor’s door, and that he only fired a shot because he thought the home was being invaded.)
As we noted previously, the same Justice Department that assigned those new prosecutors and recommended essentially no prison time for Hankison decided in May to end Biden-era police-accountability agreements with Minneapolis and Louisville that came as a result of extensive investigations following the police killings of Taylor and George Floyd. Because the DOJ under President Donald Trump has made it its mission to undermine any social justice progress, especially regarding Black victims, and Trump has used his authority to pardon Jan. 6 rioters and cops who unjustly killed a Black man in the past, we now have to worry that he might break out the pardon pen for Hankison. But we’ll cross that bridge if and when we come to it.
Anyway, while Hankison’s sentencing hearing was going on inside the courtroom, four protesters were being arrested outside, including Taylor’s aunt.
From the Louisville Courier Journal:
Bianca Austin, aunt of Breonna Taylor, was among four people arrested July 21 outside of the Gene Snyder Federal Building in downtown Louisville as protestors awaited the sentencing of ex-LMPD detective Brett Hankison.
In video captured by The Courier Journal, Austin was seen standing in the intersection of Sixth Street and Broadway as cars continued to try to move down the street. Austin is listed as an inmate at the Louisville Metro Department of Corrections as of about 5 p.m. July 21 and is charged with disorderly conduct and obstructing a highway, court records show.
Police responded to the area after getting reports of protesters blocking traffic, according to Austin’s arrest citation. The Louisville Metro Police Real Time Crime Center, which was monitoring the situation with video cameras in the area, also informed officers that multiple people had jumped on a red PT Cruiser driving through the intersection.
Officers claim that when they arrived on the scene, Austin was seen in the middle of the intersection, “clapping her hands” and blocking vehicles. They also claim she approached officers while “clapping and yelling in their face.”
Sonja Wilde-de Vries, who was outside the courthouse to witness what happened, had a different story to tell than that of the officers. She acknowledged that multiple people, including Austin, were standing in the intersection, but she says officers immediately rushed in and started making arrests instead of giving them time to disperse.
“They just swooped in and immediately went for Bianca,” Wilde-de Vries told the Courier Journal. “They did not give people a chance to get off the street.”
Austin is scheduled to appear in court for an arraignment on July 22.
In a perfect world, Hankison wouldn’t be the only officer involved in Breonna Taylor’s death who received some semblance of accountability outside of simply being fired. Then again, in a perfect world, she would still be here.
Rest well, Breonna.
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Brett Hankison Sentenced To Nearly 3 Years In Breonna Taylor Case, Taylor’s Aunt Arrested Outside Courtroom was originally published on newsone.com
