The Department of Justice asked in a sentencing memo that Brett Hankison — a former Kentucky police officer who was convicted in connection with a raid that resulted in Breonna Taylor’s death — serve one day in prison.
Hankison was convicted in 2024 of using excessive force during a botched 2020 drug raid that left Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency medical technician, dead.
The then-Louisville police officer fired 10 shots into Taylor’s glass door and windows during the raid, but didn’t hit anyone. Some shots flew into a next-door neighbor’s adjoining apartment. Taylor was shot in her hallway by two other officers after her boyfriend fired from inside the apartment, striking an officer in the leg. Police did not find any narcotics at the apartment — and afterward Taylor’s death became a rallying cry for racial justice across the country.
Hankison was cleared of a federal charge of using excessive force on Taylor’s neighbors, and during a 2022 state trial, he was acquitted of all charges after a jury deliberated for three hours. His first federal civil rights trial in 2023 ended in a mistrial.
A federal judge will decide Hankison’s sentence, which could amount to several years, at a hearing set for Monday.
The government requested in the sentencing memo released Wednesday that Hankison receive a sentence of time served, which would be one day in prison, followed by three years of supervised release.
President Trump’s appointee to run the Civil Rights Division of the DOJ, Harmeet Dhillon, and a senior non-career official in the division signed the memo, seemingly instead of attorneys or staff who usually handle sentencing filings.
The memo said multiple prosecutions against Hankison were sought, while only one portion succeeded in securing a conviction. While the DOJ respects the jury’s decision, the memo said, it “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.”
A lengthy sentence would “simply be unjust” under the circumstances in the government’s view, the memo said.
Attorneys for Taylor’s family, including civil rights lawyer Ben Crump, decried the DOJ’s request.
“This recommendation is an insult to the life of Breonna Taylor and a blatant betrayal of the jury’s decision,” their statement said. “Every American who believes in equal justice under the law should be outraged. It is unfathomable that, after finally securing a conviction, the Department of Justice would seek a sentence so drastically below the federal guidelines.”
The lawyers said it would set “a dangerous precedent.”
“When a police officer is found guilty of violating someone’s constitutional rights, there must be real accountability and justice,” they wrote. “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.”
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