A federal judge has sentenced former Louisville police officer Brett Hankison to 33 months in prison for using excessive force during the 2020 botched drug raid that resulted in the death of Breonna Taylor. The ruling, delivered Monday by U.S. District Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings, went against the U.S. Department of Justice’s recommendation for no prison time. Jennings firmly rejected the leniency proposal, saying it would undermine the jury’s November verdict and diminish the seriousness of Hankison’s actions. She expressed astonishment that Hankison’s blind gunfire, which pierced neighboring apartments, had not injured or killed anyone, calling the behavior egregiously dangerous.
Hankison, 49, who fired 10 shots during the chaotic raid, was the only officer charged in connection to Taylor’s death, though none of his bullets struck her. His shots penetrated walls into a nearby apartment, endangering a family inside. While federal prosecutors argued his actions were unreasonable in hindsight, they emphasized that no one was directly injured by his gunfire. Their sentencing memo suggested supervised release and credited Hankison with time served—just one day in custody—prompting harsh criticism from both the presiding judge and Taylor’s family.
Prominent civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represented Taylor’s family in securing a $12 million settlement with the city, condemned the DOJ’s approach, calling it an affront to justice and to Taylor’s memory. After the sentencing, Crump expressed mixed feelings, stating he had hoped for a longer prison term but was thankful Hankison would serve any time at all. Outside the courthouse, chants of “Say her name – Breonna Taylor!” echoed as supporters voiced their continued frustration with the handling of the case by federal authorities.
The sentencing highlighted deeper tensions between the current Justice Department leadership and civil rights advocates. The DOJ’s new head of the Civil Rights Division, Trump-appointed Harmeet Dhillon, authored the controversial sentencing memo and has recently attempted to reverse police reform settlements in Louisville and Minneapolis. Taylor’s mother, Tamika Palmer, voiced disappointment at what she saw as prosecutorial indifference, accusing the federal attorneys of aligning more with Hankison’s defense than with the pursuit of justice for her daughter.
While Hankison is the first to face prison time in the Breonna Taylor case, other officers involved in the raid remain untried. Three ex-detectives face federal charges for fabricating the drug warrant that initiated the fatal encounter, though they were not present during the shooting. Despite the judge’s strong rebuke and the sentence imposed, the outcome fell short of what many had hoped would be a more definitive act of accountability in a case that helped spark a national reckoning over police violence and racial injustice.
