Federal prosecutors to retry ex-Louisville police officer in Breonna Taylor civil rights case

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Less than a month after a jury failed to return a verdict on whether former Louisville Metro Police Detective Brett Hankison violated the civil rights of Breonna Taylor and four others during the March 2020 police raid that killed her, federal prosecutors say they plan to try the case again.

During a status hearing Wednesday, federal prosecutor Michael Songer said the government would like to retry the case "sooner rather than later," though some shake-up in Hankison's defense counsel may delay the proceedings. Stewart Mathews announced he would be soon retiring from his law practice and intended to withdraw from Hankison's defense team.

"This was gonna be my last rodeo," Mathews said, adding he hadn't anticipated a mistrial.

Hankison plans to request an additional attorney or may potentially replace his counsel team, defense attorney Jack Byrd said Wednesday.

Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings said the court's calendar is busy early next year and suggested a proposed trial date for October 2024, which can be revised if needed. Prosecutors and defense attorneys agreed with the new date.

Another status hearing in the case is scheduled for late January.

What happened in the Breonna Taylor case?

Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency room technician, had been inside her apartment when she was fatally shot by plainclothes Louisville police officers attempting to serve a search warrant at 12:40 a.m. on March 13, 2020, as part of a botched narcotics investigation.

Though seven officers were on the scene to serve the warrant, only three fired their guns: Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly, Detective Myles Cosgrove, and Hankison. The latter fired 10 bullets through a covered sliding-glass door and window. Some of his shots went through a common wall into an adjacent apartment.

Hankison was charged with violating Taylor's civil rights, as well as those of her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, and three neighbors who were in the other apartment. The government contended he willfully used unconstitutionally excessive force, while his defense argued his actions were justified based on his perception that he was saving his fellow officers' lives.

Defense asks: What would you have done?Key moments from the Brett Hankison federal trial that ended in a deadlocked jury

Why did Brett Hankison's court case end in a mistrial?

In his November trial, a panel of 12 jurors couldn't unanimously agree with one side over the other.

The federal jury deliberations were a sharp contrast from those of Hankison's state trial. In March 2022, Hankison was found not guilty on state charges of wanton endangerment related to the shooting and has since had those criminal charges expunged.

Contrary to the state trial's jurors taking just three hours to return a verdict, the federal jury deliberated for over three days.

At one point, it sent a note saying there was an impasse and asked what would happen if members could not make a unanimous decision. The judge responded by issuing an Allen charge, which urged the jury to reach a verdict. 

A few hours later, the jury — which appeared to be made of one Black man, five white men, and six white women — reaffirmed its split stance, leading the judge to declare a mistrial.

The federal trial lasted about three weeks and included testimony from approximately two dozen people.