In the federal case against former Louisville police officer Brett Hankison, who was accused of violating Breonna Taylor's civil rights, as well as those of her boyfriend who was living with her, and their neighbors on the night Taylor was killed in a botched police raid in 2020, a judge declared a mistrial on Thursday.
The jury informed the judge in a note they had sent hours earlier that they were at a standstill and could not come to a unanimous verdict.
The jury was then instructed by the judge to continue their deliberations in an Allen charge. When the jury informs the court that they have reached a unanimous verdict, the judge may charge the jury with an Allen charge and order them to return to deliberations.
The jury was then informed by the judge that if they reached a unanimous decision, they could only find guilty on one of the two charges.
However, following more discussion, the jury was unable to reach a verdict on either count. The judge rejected the prosecutors' request for another Allen charge, stating that the jury's attentiveness and the jury's limited questions meant that the jury was already well-versed in pertinent aspects of the case and that no additional Allen charge was required.
The judge was asked by the prosecutors to provide the jury with the transcript that they had previously requested. However, the judge stated that she does not want to provide them with the entire transcript since they are unsure of the jury's instructions and the transcript has already been made unavailable by the court.
In August 2022, Hankison was charged with two counts of deprivation of rights under color of law, both of which are violations of civil rights. He was accused of deliberately denying Taylor and her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, their constitutional right to be free from unreasonable seizures, which includes the right to be free from the use of unreasonable force by a police officer, according to court documents.
He was also accused of willfully denying Cody Etherton, Zayden Flournoy, and Chelsey Napper, Taylor's neighbors, their right to due process of law and freedom from being deprived of their liberty, including their right not to be subjected to the shocking force of a police officer. These charges are documented in court transcripts.
In court, Hankison said that when he fired ten rounds into Taylor's apartment in March 2020, he did not have a specific target in mind. The neighbor's apartment was also hit by bullets.
Hankison said, "I could not," in response to the prosecution's question about whether he could have seen a person's outline through the window blinds at the moment he fired. In court documents, he stated that he did not see a real person or weapon.
According to court transcripts, Hankison stated that he saw muzzle flashes coming from inside the house and thought the threat was moving up the hallway and coming towards the officers from his position outside.
"You didn't attend," Hankison informed the prosecutor. "You don't know what I saw ..."
According to court documents, Hankison said he now understands that the muzzle flashes were coming from his fellow officers who were stationed in the front entrance doorway of the apartment. According to Hankison, he believed his fellow officers were being put to death at the time.
According to the prosecutor, Hankison did not find his spent shell casings near the sidewalk near the house where he said he was when he fired. Court transcripts state they were discovered in the parking lot behind a gray truck.
Based on testimony from former Sgt. John Mattingly and Taylor's neighbor Etherton, the prosecution brought up the fact that, according to court documents, there was a pause after the officers in the doorway finished shooting and before Hankison started firing his ten rounds from the side of the apartment.
According to court transcripts, the defense contended that the prosecution had taken Mattingly and Etherton's statements out of context and lacked the necessary proof to assert that Hankison's own gunfire was separated from that of his fellow officers. When Hankison noticed there were no longer any muzzle flashes inside the apartment, he said he stopped shooting. He said in court that he believed he had eliminated the threat.
According to court documents, the prosecution contended that Hankison's shooting was not warranted because there would not have been any muzzles for him to see or target if the officers had stopped shooting before he started.
The federal trial represented the second effort to find Hankison guilty of his crimes when, on March 13, 2020, at around 12:45 a.m., police drove through Taylor's apartment door and killed her. Last year, Hankison was exonerated in a state trial on several counts of wanton endangerment. Nobody was hit by any of his bullets.
This story was supported by Nadine El-Bawab, Amanda Su, Jack Date, and Alexander Mallin of ABC News.
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