You thought it was over? Nah. Ex-Louisville officer Brett Hankison, accused of shooting aimlessly into Breonna Taylor’s apartment, is expected to be retried in federal court.
Hankison is facing civil rights charges after being accused of excessive force in the botched drug raid on the evening of March 13, 2020 that resulted in Taylor’s death. Prosecutors say Hankison recklessly fired 10 shots into Taylor’s apartment through the glass door from the outside while not identifying a target.
If you’ve been following the trial over the last month, everyone from Taylor’s neighbors to Hankison’s colleagues testified in federal court during the ex-cop’s trial. During the trial, Taylor’s neighbor testified that bullets flew through her child’s room while she and her family were on their way to sleep.
Even with that shocking testimony, jurors reached a deadlock on the charges and told the court they could not reach a unanimous verdict, NBC reports. Therefore, the judge declared a mistrial.
However, prosecutors aren’t giving up on putting Hankison in federal prison.
Read more from CNN:
On Wednesday, federal prosecutors informed Hankison during a status hearing that they plan to refile charges, his attorneys, Stew Mathews and Ibrahim Farag, confirmed to CNN.
Mathews and Farag told CNN a status hearing would be held on January 24 and a trial date has been tentatively set for October 14. Hankison’s other attorney, Jack Byrd, filed a new motion of acquittal, according to the court docket.
Hankison will be charged with the same two federal counts he faced the first time: one count of deprivation of rights under color of law for Taylor and another count for three of her neighbors, the report says.
If convicted this time around, the ex-cop faces life in prison.