Five years after the death of Breonna Taylor, an African American woman who was shot by the police in her home in 2020, a federal judge in Kentucky (USA) sentenced a former officer involved in her death to three years in prison on Monday, as reported by Efe. Taylor's death sparked protests nationwide, and former officer Brett Hankinson is the only officer charged and convicted in this case.
District Judge Rebecca Grady dismissed the Department of Justice's recommendation last week, which only asked for one day in jail for Hankinson, claiming he had suffered "psychological stress" from years of legal battles.
The former officer, who will serve a 33-month prison sentence and one year of probation, fired shots into Taylor's apartment during the raid that led to the death of the 26-year-old woman.
The other two former officers involved have not been convicted. One of them, Kelly Goodlett, pleaded guilty to conspiring to obtain a fraudulent search warrant, and his trial has been postponed until February next year.
In November 2024, Hankinson was convicted by a jury in Kentucky for violating Taylor's civil rights.
The Department of Justice - under the administration of Joe Biden (2017-2021) - concluded that Louisville police officers "use excessive force, including unjustified neck restraints and unreasonable use of police dogs and tasers," according to the investigation report.
Furthermore, they accused law enforcement of executing search warrants without knocking, and discriminating against African American citizens or people with disabilities.
Taylor died in 2020 in her home during a drug raid. The officers had a "no-knock" search warrant, allowing them to enter the apartment without identifying themselves. These types of warrants were banned in the city after the incident.
Once the raid began, the officers stormed the residence, where the woman was with her boyfriend, who legally owned a gun and fired, thinking they were intruders. The police responded by blindly shooting and killing Taylor.
Her death on March 13, 2020, occurred months before the murder of African American George Floyd in May of the same year, which triggered the largest wave of protests and racial unrest in the US since the 1960s.