Tamika Palmer, heart, the mom of Breonna Taylor, leads a march by means of the streets of downtown Louisville on the one yr anniversary of Taylor's dying on March 13, 2021, in Louisville, Ky. (AP Photograph/Timothy D. Easley, File)
LOUISVILLE, KY. --
Jury choice resumed Tuesday with the primary questioning of potential jurors for the trial of a former Kentucky police officer concerned within the lethal raid that killed Breonna Taylor.
Potential jurors in Brett Hankison's wanton endangerment trial are being questioned individually, so legal professionals can decide whether or not they have any preexisting biases earlier than proof is offered.
Hankison will not be charged within the dying of Taylor, who was shot to dying in a botched 2020 narcotics raid. However prosecutors mentioned Hankison fired pictures through the raid that went right into a neighboring condominium, endangering others.
The primary potential juror referred to as was a girl -- a medical employee identical to Taylor was -- who mentioned she was "impartial" on the case. Attorneys requested if she was conscious Hankison's case is separate from the capturing dying of Taylor. The girl mentioned she had no opinion about Taylor's dying and indicated she might weigh the proof in opposition to Hankison pretty. She was retained and requested to return on Feb. 22 for the subsequent section of jury choice.
Two different jurors included within the first group had been dismissed. One, a younger man, mentioned he had a detrimental opinion of police and did not need to be on the jury. The opposite, a girl, mentioned she believed Hankison was responsible in Taylor's dying.
Eighteen potential jurors had been interviewed by late afternoon, and 11 had been retained for the subsequent step.
The jury pool was widened to about 250 due to heavy publicity surrounding Taylor's dying and racial injustice protests that passed off in Louisville all through 2020. Potential jurors are being questioned individually, about 20 a day, to search out out if any can't be neutral on the query of Hankison's guilt. The method is anticipated to take a number of weeks.
Potential jurors provided a wide range of opinions on the case Tuesday. One younger lady mentioned she participated in a protest over Taylor's dying in the summertime of 2020 however would be capable to choose Hankison's case impartially.
However the lady additionally remarked that Taylor "wasn't a legal, the police did not have a cause to go after her." She was dismissed. One other younger lady was dismissed as a result of she checked out information studies concerning the case after the choose requested the jury pool to not. Others who had been dismissed had schedule conflicts or expressed some bias concerning the case.
Questioning was set to start final week, however was delayed by inclement climate and after Hankison wanted minor surgical procedure.
Hankison sat alongside his attorneys through the proceedings Tuesday, sporting a blue swimsuit and brilliant pink tie.
Two different officers on the scene with Hankison who fired bullets that struck Taylor weren't charged. Taylor's boyfriend fired a shot
that struck a type of officers, Jonathan Mattingly, within the leg. The boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, mentioned he feared an intruder was breaking into Taylor's floor ground condominium.
Taylor, a 26-year-old Black lady who labored as an emergency medical technician, was shot a number of occasions. No medication had been present in her condominium, and the warrant used to enter by pressure was later discovered to be flawed. The case additionally shined a light-weight on using "no knock" warrants, which had been later banned in Louisville.
Hankison has pleaded not responsible to 3 counts of first-degree wanton endangerment, a low-level felony that carries a jail sentence of 1 to 5 years.
Jefferson Circuit Decide Ann Bailey Smith denied Hankison's request final yr to maneuver the trial out of Louisville. He had argued that publicity surrounding the case would make it exhausting to seat an neutral jury.
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