Judge gives ex-officer nearly 3 years in Breonna Taylor raid, rebuffs DOJ call for no prison time
The federal judge involved in sentencing rejected the US Justice Department's recommendation for no prison time for Brett Hankison, who fired 10 shots during the botched drug raid but did not hit anyone.
Hankison was the only office on the scene charged with Taylor's death. He is the first person sentenced to prison in connection with the case that fuelled nationwide protests against police brutality across the US.
US District Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings said no prison time 'is not appropriate' and would minimise a jury's verdict from November. Jennings said she was 'startled' there weren't more people injured in the rain from Hankison's blind shots.
She sentenced the 49-year-old to 33 months in prison for the conviction of use of excessive force with three years of supervised probation to follow the prison term.
The 26-year-old's Breonna Taylor's death, along with the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, sparked racial injustice and police brutality protests nationwide in 2020.
Taylor was shot in her hallway by two officers after her boyfriend fired from inside the apartment, striking an officer in the leg. Neither of the other officers was charged in state or federal court after prosecutors deemed they were justified in returning fire into the apartment.
Louisville police used a drug warrant to enter Taylor's apartment but found no drugs or cash inside.
Three other police officers have been charged with crafting a falsified warrant in the Taylor case, but none have gone to trial. None were at the scene when Taylor was shot.
The warrant used to enter her apartment was one of five issued that night in search of evidence on an alleged drug dealer that Taylor once had an associated with.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
11 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Fighter's shocking meltdown filmed on plane
Aaron 'Tex' Johnson threw a tantrum on the plane and at the airport Aaron 'Tex' Johnson isn't new to fighting. After all, the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu expert makes his living as a mixed martial arts fighter. However, he's presumably new to fighting on airplanes, and his meltdown was captured on video. In videos posted to platforms like X, TikTok, and Instagram, Johnson is seen arguing with a Southwest Airlines flight attendant, and it is not going well. It's unclear what sparked the disturbance, but the fighter is seen yelling at the flight attendant about his bag. This quickly leads to a shouting match with fellow passengers. The flight attendant holds her ground, and the rest of the passengers are clearly on her side, joining her to yell at Johnson. The plane appears to be connected to the jet bridge because the fighter makes his way to the door as his fellow passengers gleefully shout,'Bye!' Instead of leaving, however, Johnson turns around and screams. At this point, the flight attendant begins to push Johnson off the plane as fellow crew members rush to assist her. Several large male passengers are also seen standing nearby, clearly signalling they are willing to assist the hard working flight crew if necessary. In another video posted to X, Johnson is being wheeled on a stretcher at the airport with a police escort. The officers remain calm as Johnson screams, 'I'm being treated like a Black person right now.' According to the New York Post, Johnson has since followed up with a post on Instagram Stories: 'For anyone trying to drag me down, it doesn't matter to me, I have the best friends.' He later followed up with a cryptic post that said: 'I never wanted to carry a gun Never used a weapon Been attacked by bats, knives and guns pulled I'm still here Karen's and b****es' It's currently unknown if charges were filed against Johnson or if he'll be welcome on future Southwest flights. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
11 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Todd Chrisley Thought About 'Going Back' to Prison Upon Seeing Wife Julie's Natural Brunette Hair
The married couple were indicted in 2019 for fraud and conspiracy, but were released from prison in early May under a pardon from President Donald Trump Todd Chrisley is sharing new details about his reunion with wife Julie after their release from prison. In a July 23 episode of the Chrisley Confessions 2.0 podcast, the couple sat down together to talk about their return home following their early releases from prison in May, which were made possible under a pardon from President Donald Trump. The pair, who were indicted on 12 counts of bank and wire fraud, tax evasion and conspiracy in 2019 and went to prison in January 2023, opened up about Julie, 52, being photographed in Nashville with her brunette hair and graying roots after life behind bars. "Was there a horrible picture that came out of me? Yeah. The way I flip that is, look at me now. People think I look even better because that horrible picture was out there to begin with," said Julie. "Listen, I will say, you set the bar low. You had to go nowhere but up," responded Todd, whose comment did not please his wife of almost 30 years. "That wasn't very nice," remarked Julie, but Todd, 56, doubled down on his statement. "I'm just trying to be honest. I'm not gonna lie, I first saw you, when I got out of that car, I started thinking about going back [to prison]. But then I thought, let me embrace this." He defended his statement further. "I mean it was a rough moment. It was a rough moment because I'd never seen you dark in my life. Julie, 30 years, I've never seen you with dark hair." Julie explained that she "didn't have any choice" but to embrace her natural hair color because of her lack of access to a salon. Although, she managed to make things work for a little while. "When I went to prison, my hair was blonde but it had a lot of I self-surrendered," she explained. "Then, we actually had a girl that was there at the prison when I got worked in the salon and she was really good and she did highlights for me. When I tell you they looked so good, it looked like I'd been to a salon on the outside." But then when her friend was released, Julie was left to her own devices and managed to get by with box dye purchased from the commissary. "I did that for probably a year and a half or so," she continued. According to her, she didn't have much time left away from home anyway so she thought, "You know what? I'm not going color my hair anymore. I'm just going to let it grow." "So even these chicks in prison acknowledged you need to do something with that," joked Todd. Prior to her time in jail, Julie was known for her platinum blonde locks and a day after her release, her son Chase Chrisley told Entertainment Tonight that she had no plans on hitting the bleach again. However, despite her claims. Julie eventually did return to the hair she was known for. On June 8, she was seen with her blonde hair freshened up at a Target, where fans took photos with her. Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. Later that month, Chase spoke to PEOPLE about always knowing his mom would eventually go back to her signature look. "I knew she wasn't going to keep it the same," he said while discussing his new alcohol-free sparkling water Gold Drop, out July 1, then revealing the joke his dad made about Julie's natural hair. "He said, 'This would be the first time in my life I've ever been with a brunette.'" Read the original article on People
Yahoo
11 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Donald Trump Doesn't Rule Out Pardoning Ghislaine Maxwell
On his way out the door to a weekend golf trip that's set to cost American taxpayers at least $10 million, Trump stopped to answer a couple questions from reporters ― and he was awfully cagey when asked about Ghislaine Maxwell. Asked if he would pardon or commute the sentence of Maxwell, sex offender Jeffrey Epstein's onetime girlfriend, Trump sure didn't say 'no.' 'I'm allowed to do it,' he told reporters. He then claimed that 'it's something I've not thought about.' Presumably, Trump wouldn't pardon Maxwell, who was convicted for helping Epstein sexually abuse underage girls, unless it benefited him personally — perhaps by buying her silence or otherwise somehow distracting the country from his own past relationship with Epstein. Trump deflected further when pushed on the subject. 'I don't want to talk about that,' he said. Maxwell is serving a 20-year sentence at a federal prison in Tallahassee, Florida. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche met with her on Thursday in an attempt to quell a firestorm over the Trump administration's backtracking on promises to release additional records from the Epstein investigation. 'What I do want to say is that Blanche is a great attorney,' Trump told reporters. Then he launched into one of his classic redirects and encouraged the press not to investigate his own connection to Epstein, but everyone else's. He proceeded to list names that may or may not be in the Epstein files and speculated about 'hedge fund guys' and former President Bill Clinton going to Epstein's island. (Clinton has denied knowing anything about the 'terrible crimes' allegedly committed by the billionaire financier.) In the same back and forth, Trump also denied that he'd written a lewd birthday message for Epstein that featured a drawing of a naked woman and remarked how 'enigmas never age' while wishing that 'may every day be another wonderful secret.' The Wall Street Journal published a copy of the note last week. Related... Justice Department Officials Meet With Ghislaine Maxwell Trump Told By Bondi His Name Is In The 'Epstein Files': Report Fox News Apparently 'Largely Obeyed' This Trump Order On Epstein, New Report Finds Trump Once Gave Epstein A Racy Birthday Card With A Strange Note: Report