LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The federal retrial of former Louisville Metro Police (LMPD) detective Brett Hankison is moving faster compared to his first federal trial in the Breonna Taylor case.
Hankison is charged with violating the civil rights of Taylor and her neighbors the night he fired 10 shots into the side of her apartment during the botched 2020 police raid.
Federal prosecutors rested their case on Thursday, clearing the way for Hankison to take the witness stand in his own defense on Monday.
Hankison has testified and gotten emotional in both of his last two trials, and both have ended in his favor.
In Jefferson Circuit Court for his wanton endangerment trial in 2022, Hankison apologized to Breonna Taylor’s mother, saying, “I felt sincere empathy for them…if my daughter was shot at, if bullets came into our house, that would be very concerning and I apologize to her for that.”
That jury found him not guilty.
Still, Bianca Austin, Taylor’s aunt, is hoping for a conviction this time around.
“He was reckless in his actions, and he made himself accountable on the stand. So I hope that the jury listens to the facts," she told WHAS11 on Thursday after federal prosecutors rested their case.
The prosecution's final witness, LMPD Sgt. Brandon Hogan, responded to the scene that night as a member of SWAT.
He said he didn't see how an officer could have shot into Taylor's apartment given the circumstances that night.
Another LMPD officer, who knocked Taylor's door down with three hits of a battering ram in 2020, confirmed his previous statements saying Hankison's actions, and the Breonna Taylor case as a whole, made the police department look bad.
LMPD Det. Mike Nobles testified that he saw complete darkness inside the apartment, describing "the loudest gun [fire] I ever heard, and a lot of it" soon after knocking Taylor's door open.
He said he would not have fired the shots Hankison did, but emphasized the danger facing officers that night in what's been described as a 'fatal funnel' in the breezeway of that apartment building.
Hankison has said he was trying to protect his fellow officers, whom he believed were being executed in that doorway.
Austin said she believes the prosecution has done a better job this time keeping their case focused.
"I also believe they did an excellent job making the witnesses, you know, reiterate sworn testimony from Brett Hankison," she said.
Defense attorneys told Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings they have just three witnesses left, including Hankison himself, set to take the stand on Monday.
There will be no trial on Friday.
Attorneys expect closing arguments to begin Tuesday, paving the way for the jury to receive the case by midweek and begin deliberating a verdict.
Compared to Hankison's first federal trial in Nov. 2023, prosecutors called fewer witnesses -- 13 compared to 17 then.
Neither former LMPD Chief Steve Conrad nor Taylor’s boyfriend at the time, Kenny Walker – who fired the first shot at police saying he thought they were intruders – were called to testify this time.
Hankison faces a maximum penalty of life in prison, if convicted.
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