The Justice Department is asking that a former police officer found guilty of violating the civil rights of Breonna Taylor in 2020 – when she was shot and killed by police in her Louisville home – be sentenced to one day in jail.
The officer, Brett Hankison of Kentucky, was convicted on one count of abusing Taylor’s civil rights last year after firing several shots through Taylor’s bedroom window during a police raid. He is set to be sentenced on Monday.
Taylor’s killing became a pillar in the Black Lives Matter movement, and one of several cases that sparked nationwide protests against police violence in 2020. If granted, a shortened sentence could reinflame tensions with activists who believe that government institutions protect officers from facing consequences.
But in a court filing Wednesday, the Justice Department argued that although Hankison “was part of the team executing the warrant, Defendant Hankison did not shoot Ms. Taylor and is not otherwise responsible for her death.”
“Counsel is unaware of another prosecution in which a police officer has been charged with depriving the rights of another person under the Fourth Amendment for returning fire and not injuring anyone,” prosecutors wrote in their filing.
The request for Hankison to serve one day behind bars would mean a sentence of time-served, meaning that he would not return to jail. They are also asking Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings to sentence him to three years of supervised release.
The filing was signed not by lawyers involved in the case or the career staff who usually handle sentencing requests, but by Trump’s appointee to run the Civil Rights Department Harmeet Dhillon and a senior non-career official in her division.
Taylor was shot during a botched “no-knock” raid in 2020 when officers were searching for Taylor’s ex-boyfriend who was not in the home. Taylor’s boyfriend at the time, Kenneth Walker III, later said he thought they were intruders and opened fire at police officers.
Officers returned fire, including Hankison, who was accused of blindly firing through a patio door and a window. The bullets pierced into a neighboring apartment where a pregnant woman, a man and a child were home, according to prosecutors.
Hankison was fired from the police department in late June 2020.
In an apparent criticism of the Biden-era Justice Department’s handling of the case under, Trump’s DOJ noted in their Wednesday filing that the Hankison was acquitted in a state trial and that the first federal trial ended in a mistrial.
“In this case, two federal trials were ultimately necessary to obtain a unanimous verdict of guilt,” prosecutors wrote. “But even then, the jury convicted on only one count, despite the fact that the elements of the charge and underlying conduct are essentially the same.”
Prosecutors continued, adding that “the jury’s verdict will almost certainly ensure that Defendant Hankison never serves as a law enforcement officer again and will also likely ensure that he never legally possesses a firearm again.”
For his part, Hankison also argued for leniency.
“Mr. Hankison is suspectable to abuse based on his status as a police officer, coupled with the extensive national and international media attention this case has generated over the past five plus years,” his attorneys wrote.
CNN’s Hannah Rabinowitz contributed to this report.
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