U.S. Seeks One-Day Sentence For Police Officer Convicted In Breonna Taylor Case

WASHINGTON, July 17 (Reuters) – The U.S. Justice Division has requested a federal decide to condemn a former Louisville police officer who was convicted final yr of violating Breonna Taylor’s civil rights to serve simply in the future in jail, regardless of the actual fact the conviction carries a most sentence of life in jail.

In a courtroom submitting, the Justice Division’s Civil Rights Division late on Wednesday downplayed the conviction of former Louisville police officer Brett Hankison, noting he “didn’t shoot Ms. Taylor and isn’t in any other case answerable for her demise.”

The submitting stated the one-day sentence would quantity to time served since Hankison would “get credit score for the day he was booked and made his preliminary look.”

Taylor, a Black lady, was killed by police in 2020 after they executed a no-knock warrant throughout a botched raid of her house. Her boyfriend, who was carrying a legally owned firearm, shot at police, prompting them to fireside again 22 instances into the condominium.

Her demise, in addition to the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, sparked mass racial justice protests across the nation.

The Civil Rights Division throughout former Democratic President Joe Biden’s tenure introduced felony fees towards the officers concerned in each Taylor and Floyd’s demise.

The division additionally launched civil rights probes which concluded that each the Louisville and Minneapolis police departments engaged in widespread civil rights abuses towards individuals of coloration.

Harmeet Dhillon, the Trump-appointed head of the Civil Rights Division, killed efforts to enter into court-approved settlements with these departments, and rescinded the findings of civil rights abuses in Might.

The sentencing memo submitted to the courtroom within the Hankison case late on Wednesday was notable as a result of it was not signed by any of the profession prosecutors who had tried the case.

It was submitted by Dhillon, a political appointee, and her counsel Robert Keenan.

Keenan beforehand labored as a federal prosecutor in Los Angeles, the place he argued {that a} native deputy sheriff convicted of civil rights violations, Trevor Kirk, ought to have his conviction on the felony counts struck and mustn’t serve jail time as a result of his actions amounted to a “low stage of drive.”

The efforts to strike the felony conviction led a number of prosecutors on the case to resign in protest, in line with media stories and an individual accustomed to the matter.

Dhillon couldn’t be instantly reached for touch upon the sentencing advice.

(Reporting by Sarah N. LynchEditing by Andy Sullivan and Marguerita Choy)