LOUISVILLE, Ky. — One of the former Louisville Metro Police (LMPD) officers federally charged for his actions the night Breonna Taylor was fatally shot inside her apartment four years ago is back in a court room for his third trial.
Brett Hankison is accused of violating the civil rights of Breonna Taylor, her boyfriend, and her neighbors when he fired into her apartment from the outside on March 13, 2020.
Jury selection in Hankison's latest federal trial began Monday, but could take days as attorneys work through roughly 150 potential jurors. Sixteen people will eventually be selected, including four alternates.
This is Hankison's second federal trial, a retrial of the first, which ended in a mistrial last November. He was also previously acquitted on state wanton endangerment charges in 2022.
To this point, no LMPD officer connected to the botched raid on Taylor's home, including Hankison, has been convicted.
Taylor's aunt, Bianca Austin, was in the courthouse Tuesday, even with the trial likely not starting for several more days. She was joined by a handful of activists who marched in the protests that erupted after Taylor's death.
"I'm going to be here every day because Breonna still hasn't had justice," Kamal Wells, who leads the violence prevention group Men Against Gun Violence, said. "There's been no justice for Breonna."
A familiar chant could be heard outside Louisville's federal courthouse moments after Hankison and his attorneys made their way inside the building. A small crowd gathered to chant Breonna Taylor's name.
Hankison remained quiet, choosing not to answer any questions as he entered the courthouse.
"As you see, people are coming -- and they're going to keep coming," activist Bruce Sweeney said. "We're not going to stop until we get justice."
The former LMPD detective has admitted to firing several shots from outside Taylor's apartment, with bullets flying through her home and a neighbor's apartment -- though none of them hit anyone.
Prosecutors argue Hankison dangerously and blindly fired those shots.
Hankison and his attorneys maintain he was trying to protect his fellow officers as they came under fire, saying he saw muzzle flashes that were later determined to have come from LMPD's guns.
"I knew they were trying to get to him, and it appeared to me that they were being executed with this rifle," Hankison testified during his 2022 trial in Jefferson Circuit Court.
Kamal Wells said it came as a surprise there wasn't a verdict at the last federal trial, with the jury unable to come to a unanimous decision.
"An innocent woman was killed, and she should still be here right now," Wells added.
In the trial from last November, only one juror was Black. The jury panel was approved by both federal prosecutors and Hankison's attorneys.
As soon as the jury is finalized, opening statements could start immediately.
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