The federal civil rights trial of a former Louisville, Kentucky, police officer charged in the 2020 death of Breonna Taylor, a black woman whose killing fueled a wave of racial justice protests, was declared a mistrial on Thursday.
U.S. District Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings declared the mistrial in the trial of Brett Hankison — charged with civil rights violations for allegedly using excessive force — after the jury told her they could not reach an unanimous verdict.
Federal prosecutors must now decide if they will try Hankison again. A spokesperson for the Department of Justice said in a written statement that the department “is actively considering all of our available options.”
Hankison, who is white and whom prosecutors said fired 10 bullets that did not strike anyone during the botched raid on Taylor’s apartment, was acquitted by a state court last year in a separate trial, in which he was accused of putting Taylor’s neighbors’ in danger by firing his weapon. Hankison was the only officer of the three who fired their weapons to face criminal charges.
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