Brett Hankison, left, exits the courtroom after the primary day of jury choice in his trial on Feb. 8, 2022, in Louisville, Ky. (AP Picture/Dylan Lovan)
LOUISVILLE, KY. --
Almost two years after Breonna Taylor was killed by police, the one Kentucky officer charged criminally within the botched raid went on trial Wednesday for taking pictures bullets that penetrated Taylor's neighbors' condo.
Brett Hankison, now a former officer, fired 10 photographs, none of which hit the Black girl, however prosecutors stated they endangered the couple and little one who lived subsequent door.
Prosecutors instructed jurors the case is just not concerning the killing of Taylor, for which the town of Louisville paid a settlement to her household, an quantity that will not deliver her again.
Barbara Maines Whaley, a prosecutor with the Kentucky lawyer normal's workplace, stated it is also not about police choices that led to the raid. She stated the fees are targeted on Hankinson's choice to fireplace blindly by way of Taylor's condo, endangering her neighbors.
He's charged with three counts of wanton endangerment, a felony with a variety of 1 to 5 years in jail.
Earlier than Taylor's entrance door was breached, Hankison escalated the scenario by yelling at a neighbor to return inside, she stated. And as soon as the taking pictures began, she famous that Hankison was taking pictures in a special route than the opposite officers.
Protection lawyer Stewart Mathews countered that Hankison' s taking pictures was justified throughout a chaotic scene lasting simply 10 to fifteen seconds from when Taylor's door was breached to when the taking pictures stopped.
"This case is just not concerning the demise of Breonna Taylor, however in a way it's very about that, as a result of that is what began this complete scenario," Mathews stated. "Breonna Taylor was a peripheral a part of this complete deal, however she was tied into it," and their search warrant meant officers had been accepted to go inside.
As soon as the gunfire started, Hankison "was trying to defend and save the lives of his fellow officers who he thought had been nonetheless caught in that deadly funnel inside that doorway," Mathews stated. He was doing what "he was taught to do -- he was taught to shoot till the menace is stopped."
Taylor's neighbor Cody Etherton was the primary witness, describing how he and his pregnant girlfriend Chelsey Napper had been jolted awake that evening by the sound of her door being breached. Considering somebody was breaking down his door, he stated he jumped away from bed to analyze, narrowly escaping bullets that penetrated their shared wall.
"I just about knew it was gunfire going by way of the wall. I do reworking for a residing, so when drywall began hitting my face, I just about knew. I hit the ground and went again into the bed room," he stated. "I do not even keep in mind what number of photographs I heard as a result of it was so chaotic."
"One other 1 or 2 inches and I woulda gotten shot. I might have by no means gotten to satisfy my son," Etherton added.
Etherton stated he stepped exterior after the taking pictures stopped, regarded by way of Taylor's open door and heard a person saying "breathe, child, breathe." Police ordered him inside, however he stated he stored watching by way of his peephole and will see a Black man being arrested. Later, he and his girlfriend regarded as soon as extra by way of Taylor's door, and noticed a physique lined in a white sheet.
On cross-examination, Etherton acknowledged that "the entire thing was chaotic."
"From the time I received awoke, listening to increase, to the gunfire coming by way of my condo, almost killing my girlfriend, yeah it was chaotic," he stated.
Mathews additionally questioned the $12 million civil go well with Etherton and Napper filed in opposition to Louisville and its police. "That is not influencing your testimony, the truth that you wish to get some cash out of this?" Mathews requested.
"In fact we wish to be compensated, however Chelsey and I've by no means talked about how a lot cash we wish out of this," Etherton stated.
Different officers then took the stand, saying that whereas a "no-knock warrant" had been accepted for Taylor's condo, they had been instructed that evening to as a substitute "knock and announce" the search. Detective Tony James stated this usually delays entry by not more than 15 seconds, however he and Detective Mike Nobles stated their knocking sadly drew out an upstairs neighbor who instructed the officers to go away.
Hankison, positioned farther away from Taylor's door, received distracted ordering the person to return inside, they testified.
Nobles stated they in the end spent two to a few minutes knocking and asserting themselves, throughout which period he heard somebody say "who's it?" from inside Taylor's condo.
"Police -- search warrant!" Nobles stated they introduced, and listening to no reply, he used a battering ram to interrupt open the door on the third blow.
Taylor's boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, who fired a handgun that struck Detective Jonathan Mattingly within the groin, has instructed investigators he heard knocking on the door, however by no means heard them say "police" and wasn't certain who was breaking in.
Pressed to explain precisely the place Hankison was throughout the taking pictures, Nobles stated he could not recall and James stated he could not inform. All of the officers, save Nobles with the battering ram, had their weapons drawn, James acknowledged. Requested why he did not fireplace into the condo, James stated "as a result of I did not have a transparent identifiable goal."
Sgt. Michael Campbell testified that simply earlier than the taking pictures started, he was standing with Hankison close to the foot of the steps extending over the entrance doorways of Taylor and Etherton's ground-floor flats. He described how two different officers fired by way of the entrance door, however like his colleagues, testified that he could not inform what Hankison did.
"I do not keep in mind the place he was at that time. I did not see him shoot," Campbell stated.
Pressed by a prosecutor, Campbell stated he later noticed bullet holes in Taylor's sliding glass door, across the nook from the entrance door, and acknowledged that he could not see by way of it into the condo inside.
Hankison fired 5 of the bullets by way of the glass door and a number of other extra by way of a bed room window cloaked by a blackout curtain, Sgt. Jason Vance testified. The police investigator additionally confirmed photographs of the slug that handed by way of Mattingly's leg, and of Taylor's lengthy hallway, her physique barely discernible on the finish. It was the one picture of her that the prosecution and protection agreed to indicate on the trial.
Decide Ann Bailey Smith swore in 10 males and 5 girls as jurors and alternates, however launched no details about their race or ethnicity.
Taylor, 26, labored as an emergency medical tech and was settling down for mattress on March 13, 2020 when Louisville officers with a narcotics warrant kicked in her door. They drew fireplace from Taylor's boyfriend, who thought an intruder was breaking in. Two officers on the door returned fireplace, killing Taylor. Neither was charged in her demise. Louisville settled together with her household for $12 million.
Her title, together with George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery -- Black males who died in encounters with police and white pursuers -- grew to become rallying cries throughout racial justice protests seen all over the world in 2020.
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Warren reported from Atlanta.
Correction:
This story has been corrected; Napper was Etherton's girlfriend, not spouse.
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