Us Justice Department Wants No Prison Time for Ex-Officer Convicted in Breonna Taylor Raid
The Justice Department, which has changed leadership, said in a sentencing memo this week that there is no need for a prison sentence to protect the public from Hankison. Federal prosecutors asked the judge to sentence him to time already served, which amounts to one day, and three years of supervised probation. Prosecutors at his previous federal trials aggressively pursued a conviction against Hankison, 49, arguing that he blindly fired 10 shots into Taylor's windows without identifying a target. Taylor was shot in her hallway by two other officers after her boyfriend fired from inside the apartment, striking an officer in the leg.
But in the sentencing memo, federal prosecutors wrote 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, defendants' fellow officers, or anyone else. Activists who protested in the streets after Taylor's death in 2020 seized on the narrative that under the Department of Justice recommendation, Hankison would serve just one day in jail for the conviction. Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who helped Taylor's family secure a $12 million wrongful death settlement against the city of Louisville, said the Justice Department's recommendation is 'an insult to the life of Breonna Taylor and a blatant betrayal of the jury's decision.' Recommending just one day in prison sends the unmistakable message that white officers can violate the civil rights of Black Americans with near-total impunity,' Crump said in a statement on social media. Shameka Parrish-Wright, who marched in numerous protests and ran for mayor after Taylor's death, called the Justice Department's memo 'a devastating slap in the face.' 'To those directly impacted and to everyone who understands the broader systemic failures this case revealed, one day behind bars does not suffice,' Parrish-Wright, now a Louisville city council member, said in a media release. 'This is not justice.'
Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said Hankison's conviction warrant a serious prison sentence. A presentence report from the US Probation Office said Hankison should face a range of 135 to 168 months imprisonment on the excessive force conviction, according to the memo. But federal prosecutors said a number of factors – including that Hankison's two other trials ended with no convictions – should greatly reduce the potential punishment. The memorandum was submitted by Harmeet Dhillon, the chief of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division and a political appointee, who in May moved to cancel settlements with Louisville and Minneapolis that had called for an overhaul of their police departments.
In the Taylor case, three other ex-Louisville police officers have been charged with crafting a falsified warrant, but they have not yet gone to trial. None of them were at the scene when Taylor was shot. The death of the 26-year-old Black woman, along with the May 2020 police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, sparked racial injustice protests nationwide that year. A separate jury deadlocked on federal charges against Hankison in 2023, and he was acquitted on state charges of wanton endangerment in 2022.
___ Associated Press writer Eric Tucker contributed to this report.
___ This story has been updated to correct the sentencing date to Monday, July 21.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Al Arabiya
6 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Less selection, higher prices: How tariffs are shaping the holiday shopping season
With summer in full swing in the United States, retail executives are sweating a different season. It's less than 22 weeks before Christmas, a time when businesses that make and sell consumer goods usually nail down their holiday orders and prices. But President Donald Trump's vacillating trade policies–part of his effort to revive the nation's diminished manufacturing base and to reduce the US deficit in exported goods–have complicated those end-of-year plans. Balsam Hill, which sells artificial trees and other decorations online, expects to publish fewer and thinner holiday catalogs because the featured products keep changing with the tariff–import tax–rates the president sets, postpones, and revises. The uncertainty has led us to spend all our time trying to rejigger what we're ordering, where we're bringing it in, when it's going to get here,' Mac Harman, CEO of Balsam Hill parent company Balsam Brands, said. 'We don't know which items we're going to have to put in the catalog or not. Months of confusion over which foreign countries' products may become more expensive to import has left a question mark over the holiday shopping season. US retailers often begin planning for the winter holidays in January and typically finalize the bulk of their orders by the end of June. The seesawing tariffs already have factored into their calculations. The consequences for consumers? Stores may not have the specific gift items customers want come November and December. Some retail suppliers and buyers scaled back their holiday lines rather than risking a hefty tax bill or expensive imports going unsold. Businesses still are setting prices, but say shoppers can expect many things to cost more, though by how much depends partly on whether Trump's latest round of reciprocal tariffs kicks in next month. The lack of clarity has been especially disruptive for the US toy industry, which sources nearly 80 percent of its products from China. American toy makers usually ramp up production in April, a process delayed until late May this year after the president put a 145 percent tariff on Chinese goods, according to Greg Ahearn, president and CEO of the Toy Association, an industry trade group. The US tariff rate may have dropped significantly from its spring high–a truce in the US-China trade war is set to expire on Aug. 12–but continues to shape the forthcoming holiday period. 'Manufacturing activity is way down from a year ago for small- and medium-sized US toy companies,' Ahearn said. The late start to factory work in China means holiday toys are only now arriving at US warehouses, industry experts said. A big unknown is whether tariffs will keep stores from replenishing supplies of any breakout hit toys that emerge in September,' said James Zahn, editor-in-chief of the trade publication Toy Book. In the retail world, planning for Christmas in July usually involves mapping out seasonal marketing and promotion strategies. Dean Smith, who co-owns independent toy stores JaZams in Princeton, New Jersey, and Lahaska, Pennsylvania, said he recently spent an hour and a half running through pricing scenarios with a Canadian distributor because the wholesale cost of some products increased by 20 percent. Increasing his own prices that much might turn off customers, Smith said, so he explored ways to maintain a reasonable margin without raising prices beyond what consumers would accept. He ordered a lower cost Crazy Forts building set so he would have the toy on hand and left out the kids' edition of the Anomia card game because he didn't think customers would pay what he would have to charge. 'In the end, I had to eliminate half of the products that I normally buy,' Smith said. Hilary Key, owner of The Toy Chest in Nashville, Indiana, said she tries to get new games and toys in early most years to see which ones she should stock up on for the winter holidays. This year, she abandoned her product testing for fear any delayed orders would incur high import taxes. Meanwhile, vendors of toys made in China and elsewhere bombarded Key with price increase notices. For example, Schylling, which makes Needoh Care Bear collectibles and modern versions of nostalgic toys like My Little Pony, increased prices on orders by 20 percent, according to Key. All the price hikes are subject to change if the tariff situation changes again. Key worries her store won't have as compelling a product assortment as she prides herself on carrying. 'My concern is not that I'll have nothing because I can bring in more books. I can bring in more gifts or I can bring in just things that are manufactured in other places,' she said. 'But that doesn't mean I'm going to have the best stock for every developmental age for every special need. The retail industry may have to keep taking a whack-a-mole approach to navigating the White House's latest tariff ultimatums and temporary reprieves. Last week, the president again reset the rates on imports from Brazil, the European Union, Mexico, and other major trading partners, but said they would not take effect until Aug. 1. The brief pause should extend the window importers have to bring in seasonal merchandise at the current baseline tariff of 10 percent. The Port of Los Angeles had the busiest June in its 117-year history after companies raced to secure holiday shipments and July imports look strong so far, according to Gene Seroka, the port's executive director. 'In my view, we're seeing a peak season push right now to bring in goods ahead of potentially higher tariffs later this summer,' Seroka said Monday. The pace of port activity so far this year reflects a tariff whipsaw effect–imports slowing when tariffs kick in and rebounding when they're paused, he said. For us consumers, lower inventory levels, fewer selections, and higher prices are likely as we head into the holidays. Smith, who co-owns the two JaZams stores with his partner Joanne Farrugia, said they started placing holiday orders two months earlier than usual 'for certain items that we felt were essential for us to have at particular pricing.' They doubled their warehouse space to store the stockpile. But some shoppers are trying to get ahead of higher prices just like businesses are, he said. He's noticed customers snapping up items that will likely be popular during the holidays like Jellycat plush toys and large stuffed unicorns and dogs. Any sales are welcome, but Smith and Farrugia are wary of having to restock at a higher cost. 'We're just trying to be as friendly as we can to the consumer and still have a product portfolio or profile that is gonna meet the needs of all of our various customers which is getting more and more challenging by the day,' Smith said. Balsam Brands' Harman said he's had to resign himself to not having as robust a selection of ornaments and frosted trees to sell as in years past. Soon it will be too late to import meaningful additions to his range of products. 'Our purpose as a company is to create joy together and we're going to do our very best to do that this year,' Harman said. 'We're just not going to have a bunch of the items that consumers want this year and that's not a position we want to be in.
Saudi Gazette
8 hours ago
- Saudi Gazette
Trump urges Senate to cancel August recess, speed up confirmations
WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday called on Senate Majority Leader John Thune to cancel the chamber's traditional August recess and accelerate the confirmation process for his executive and judicial nominees. 'Hopefully the very talented John Thune, fresh off our many victories over the past two weeks and, indeed, 6 months, will cancel August recess (and long weekends!), in order to get my incredible nominees confirmed. We need them badly!!' Trump posted on Truth Social. The Senate is currently scheduled to confirm six of Trump's nominees on Monday, including advancing his pick to head the Drug Enforcement Administration. Among the nominations is Emil Bove, a Justice Department official tapped for a federal appeals court seat, and Jeanine Pirro, a former Fox News host, nominated to serve as U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia. Bove's nomination has drawn criticism from Senate Democrats after a whistleblower alleged he advised the Justice Department to defy court orders related to migrant deportations—claims he has denied. Trump has also nominated candidates to restore a quorum to the National Labor Relations Board, which has remained inactive since January after he dismissed its lone Democratic member. — Agencies
Leaders
12 hours ago
- Leaders
Israel Kills Dozens of Palestinians at Aid Site in Gaza
Israeli forces killed at least 36 Palestinians and injured others near an aid distribution site run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) in Khan Younis, reported Reuters. The US-backed organization denied the incident, while the Israeli army said it only fired warning shots at suspects, amid growing controversary over aid distribution process in the war-torn enclave. Shooting Palestinians At dawn on Saturday, the Israeli troops opened gunfire at Palestinians heading to an aid distribution site in Khan Younis, killing at least 36 people, according to Gaza's Health Ministry and Nasser Hospital. The Israeli military said it fired warning shots at suspects moving near its forces, at a time when the distribution site was not active. It said it was investigating the incident. However, an eyewitness told Reuters that there were no warnings before the shooting. 'We thought they came out to organize us so we can get aid, suddenly (I) saw the jeeps coming from one side, and the tanks from the other and started shooting at us,' Gaza resident Mohamed al-Khalidi said. GHF Response The GHF denied any incidents or fatalities on Saturday, adding that it warned people not to head to its sites in the dark. 'We have repeatedly warned aid seekers not to travel to our sites overnight and early morning hours,' the GHF said. 'The reported (Israeli military) activity resulting in fatalities occurred hours before our sites opened and our understanding is most of the casualties occurred several kilometers away from the nearest GHF site,' it said in a statement. The GHF has sparked worldwide anger over its aid distribution mechanism that caused mounting death toll near distribution sites. The Israeli and US-backed organization works with private American contractors to get aid supplies into Gaza. Global Condemnation The GHF model bypasses the UN-led system as Israel claims that Hamas loots aid shipments, an accusation the Palestinian movement denies. Under the GHF operation system, Palestinian aid seekers are required to travel to distribution sites each week to get one package per family. However, the UN and other international organizations have criticized the GHF operation model, refusing to cooperate with the organization amid fears it aims to force the displacement of Palestinians and saying there is no evidence that Hamas steals aid. Moreover, the UN has called the GHF model 'unsafe' and a 'breach of humanitarian impartiality standards.' Earlier in July, Amnesty International accused Israel and the GHF of using starvation tactics as a weapon of war against Palestinians as part of the Israeli ongoing genocide in the Gaza Strip. It also said that Israel has turned aid seeking into a 'booby trap for desperate starved Palestinians' by preventing UN and other key humanitarian organizations from distributing certain aid items and by maintaining the GHF 'militarized aid scheme.' Rising Deaths Shooting incidents near GHF distribution sites have been on the rise in recent weeks. On July 15, 2025, the UN Rights Office said that since May 27, 2025, at least 875 people in Gaza while seeking aid; 674 of them near the GHF sites. The remaining 201 were killed while seeking aid on the routes of aid convoys or near aid convoys run by the UN or its partners. Furthermore, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, voiced deep concerns over civilian deaths near aid sites amid the spread of deadly malnutrition among children. In the light of this, the UNRWA Director of Communications, Juliette Touma, said: 'Our teams on the ground – UNRWA teams and other United Nations teams – have spoken to survivors of these killings, these starving children included, who were shot at while on their way to pick up very little food.' Touma warned that babies are dying as a result of acute malnutrition caused by Israel's blockade on aid entry into Gaza. 'We've been banned from bringing any humanitarian assistance into Gaza for more than four months now,' she said, pointing to a 'significant increase' in child malnutrition since the Israeli blockade began on 2 March. The Israeli war on Gaza has killed more than 58,000 Palestinians and wounded over 138,000 since October 7, 2023, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. Short link : Post Views: 75
