Ex-cop Brett Hankison violated Breonna Taylor’s civil rights during a deadly raid, the jury finds

A jury on Friday found a former Louisville, Kentucky, police officer guilty of violating Breonna Taylor’s civil rights in a failed raid that led to her deathNBC affiliate WAVE of Louisville reported.

The jury also acquitted Brett Hankison of a second charge accusing him of violating the civil rights of Taylor’s neighbor.

Taylor, 26, was fatally shot by police in the March 13, 2020raid, but not by Hankison and he was not charged with her death.

Hankison, 48, fired ten shots into Taylor’s apartment, but none hit anyone. Some of his shots also flew into a neighboring apartment.

Taylor’s mother, Tamika Palmer, said she was at a loss for words and didn’t know what to think when the verdict was read.

‘I’m grateful. I’m grateful to God,” Palmer told reporters Friday evening. She thanked the jurors, who she said took the time to understand the case.

Hankison was retried by the Justice Department after an initial jury deadlocked on both counts. ending in a mistrialin November 2023.

In 2020, police were at Taylor’s apartment looking for evidence in a narcotics investigation targeting her ex-boyfriend, who was living at a different address at the time.

Taylor’s boyfriend U.S. Attorney Merrick Garland fired a single shot at the front door because he thought intruders were breaking in, according to U.S. Attorney Merrick Garland.

Two officers immediately fired a total of 22 shots into the apartment, one of which hit Taylor in the chest and killed her, he said.

Hankison testified that he had to act quickly because he believed his fellow officers were being executed. Prosecutors accused him of shooting blindly.

In the current trial, which lasted about two weeks, the jury found Hankison not guilty of violating the neighbor’s rights and then returned to deliberate on charges against Taylor himself.

The jury later returned with a guilty verdict on the Taylor count, WAVE reported around 9:30 p.m. Some jurors were in tears as the verdict was read. reported the Associated Press.

The charge for which Hankison was convicted carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Taylor’s murder sparked outrage from across the country. President Joe Biden called her death a tragedy and said the country must enact meaningful police reforms.

In response to the raid, the Louisville City Council has decided has adopted “Breonna’s Law”. in 2020, which prohibits no-knock warrants by police.

Hankison has undergone three trials in two years.

Hankison and three other officers or former officers were federally indicted in 2022although of the group only Hankison had been present during the raid.

Joshua Jaynes, Kyle Meany and Kelly Goodlett were accused of seeking a warrant to search Taylor’s home even though they knew police had no probable cause to search it.

Goodlett, a former Louisville police detective, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy in August 2022. She admitted that she conspired with Jaynes to forge an affidavit for the Taylor warrant and cover it up by lying to investigators.

Court records show the sentencing will take place on April 29.

Jaynes and Meany still face charges of deprivation of rights under color of law.

Jaynes has also been charged with conspiracy and falsification of records in a federal investigation. Meany has also been accused of making false statements to federal investigators. Both have pleaded not guilty.

They were charged on October 1, following a federal judge’s decision in August dismissed misdemeanor counts in their previous indictment.

No one was directly charged in Taylor’s death. A state jury declined to press charges the officer who fired the fatal shot.

Hankinson was charged three times with wanton endangerment because of the shots that entered the neighbor’s apartment. That was him acquitted in 2022.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.