LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Sadiqa Reynolds, a longtime Louisville civil rights leader, said Brett Hankison’s guilty verdict is a win for justice seekers everywhere.
"It's not a perfect verdict, but it is something and it get's that family closer to closure and it get's Louisville closer to closure," Reynolds said.
The former LMPD detective was found guilty of violating Breonna Taylor's civil rights in the 2020 botched raid at her apartment late Friday.
Hours before the verdict came down, the jury found Hankinson not guilty of violating the civil rights of three neighbors with their apartments also caught in gunfire.
"This is a case where we all saw it, we all knew what happened," Reynolds said. "It just felt like we weren't going to get any sort of justice -- and we have."
The conviction required a 12-person jury to unanimously convict Hankinson. The verdict left Taylor's mother, Tameka Palmer, emotional outside the courthouse.
"One thousand six hundred and ninety-four days it took," Palmer said to reporters. "It was long, it was hard. I don't even know if I have some words, but 'thank God."
Reynolds said the verdict has national implications.
"It wasn't just us locally, it's nationally," Reynolds said. "It is an America that says this is unacceptable: We won't tolerate this kind of behavior. We don't want people to be terrorized in the beds and in their homes."
Chanelle Helm of Black Lives Matter Louisville has been active in civil rights activism locally for a long time.
"I was unnerved," Helm said. "I was just grateful there was some solace for the Breonna Taylor family because they need that – steadfast and fighting."
Helm said the split verdict failed at serving justice to the broader community, and that Hankinson should have been held accountable for civil rights infringement of Taylor's three neighbors.
"It's also really ridiculous that folks who are put in harm's way are still not receiving justice as well," Helm said.
She said by the time a case gets to the courts, it's too late for accountability.
"What we've been seeing with LMPD post-2020 is that they think the court system is going to solve their problems, but they still have to deal with us every day," Helm said.
Throughout the legal process, activists has differing levels of optimism for courtroom outcomes.
“The America that I dream of is not yet real, but we are getting closer," Reynolds said. "I think this conviction brings us one step closer. I did believe that something was going to happen."
“I wasn’t real hopeful that he would receive a guilty verdict at all," Helm said. "It’s just the way that so many things have taken place outside of court.”
Reynolds said all in all, the guilty verdict moves the needle forward.
"There has been so much injustice that you just learn to celebrate the wins," Reynolds said.
Activists await his sentencing in March where he could face life in prison.
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